Pawel Huelle

Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

978-1905583393 | 1905583397
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**Long-listed for the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize**
'Every year, the balance of the books that reach this antepenultimate round shifts. This time, central and eastern Europe shines...' - Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of The Independent and one of the judges of the IFFP.

'These are complex stories, blending mythology and ancient history with the tide of political change, moving easily between autobiography and invention, reality and fantasy, but they are also immensely readable.'
- The Herald.

'There can be little doubt the writing of these engrossing stories was something of a personal odyssey for Huelle, and, under his expert craftsmanship he guarantees a memorable journey for the reader too.' - The TLS.

'Full of powerful imagery.' - The Financial Times.

'[These stories] glow with the warmth of the past that they conjure into life, and with the yearning for an intensity of feeling and experience that does not wane as life passes by.' - The Independent.

'These are often unashamedly complex narratives...echoes of Borges...seductively elusive allegory.' - Edinburgh Review.

'Powerfully evocative.' - The Good Book Guide

'Provides a rich and rewarding reading experience.' - Dundee University Review of the Arts.


A student pedals an old Ukraina bicycle between striking factories, delivering bulletins, in the tumultuous first days of the Solidarity movement...

A shepherd watches, unseen, as a strange figure disembarks from a pirate ship anchored in the cove below, to bury a chest on the beach that later proves empty…

A prisoner in a Berber dungeon recounts his life’s story – the failed pursuit of the world’s very first language – by scrawling in the sand on his cell floor…

The characters in Pawel Huelle’s mesmerising stories find themselves, willingly or not, at the heart of epic narratives; legends and histories that stretch far beyond the limits of their own lives. Against the backdrop of the Baltic coast, mythology and meteorology mix with the inexorable tide of political change: Kashubian folklore, Chinese mysticism and mediaeval scholarship butt up against the war in Chechnya, 9-11, and the struggle for Polish independence.

Central to Huelle’s imagery is the vision of the refugee – be it the Chechen woman carrying her newborn child across the Polish border (her face emblazoned on every TV screen), the survivor of the Gulag re-appearing on his friends’ doorstep, years after being presumed dead, or the stranger who befriends the sole resident of a ghostly Mennonite village in the final days of the Second World War. Each refugee carries a clue, it seems, or is in possession or pursuit of some mysterious text or book, knowing that only it – like the Chinese ‘Book of Changes’ – can decode their story.

What we do with this text, this clue, Huelle seems to say, is up to us.

Praise for Pawel Huelle:

'Quirky, thoughtful and poetic' - The Times

'Huelle writes in such an engaging, chatty style that you hardly notice the fraught circumstances underlying every tale.' - The Guardian

About the Author

Pawel Huelle worked for the Solidarity movement during the fall of the Communist regime, before becoming a journalist and TV producer. Huelle is the author of 9 books, including novels, short stories and essays. He has been shortlisted three times for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award, is the winner of the Found In Translation Award (2009).

About the Translator

Antonia Lloyd-Jones is a full-time translator of Polish literature. Her published translations include fiction by Pawel Huelle (including The Last Supper, for which she won the Found in Translation Award 2008), Olga Tokarczuk and Jacek Dehnel. Her latest translations of non-fiction include reportage by Wojciech Jagielski and Jacek Hugo-Bader. She also translates poetry and books for children, most recently Kaytek the Wizard by Janusz Korczak.

This translation was subsidised by the Polish Book Institute in Krakow.

LAUNCH EVENTS:

EDINBURGH- MON 27 AUG
Pawel Huelle at the Edinburgh Book Festival
Thrice shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, Pawel Huelle is widely regarded as one of Poland’s most talented living authors. He joins us today, with his award-winning translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones, to discuss a stunningly inventive book of newly translated short stories. Cold Sea Stories tells tales from the Baltic Coast, but all share a common thread: each one is built around a different book, from the bible to a toy shop catalogue.
8.30pm
RBS Corner Theatre
More about his new collection here.
Visit supported by the Polish Cultural Institute. www.polishculture.org.uk

LONDON - SUN 7 OCT
Pawel Huelle at Notes and Letters Festival
More info to follow.
London.

MANCHESTER - MON 8 OCT
Pawel Huelle and David Constantine
With translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones
International Anthony Burgess Foundation
6pm.
Manchester Literature Festival
Book tickets here.

ILKLEY - TUE 9 OCT
Pawel Huelle and David Constantine
Ilkley Playhouse, Ilkley
7.30pm
Ilkley Literature Festival
Book tickets here.
Visit supported by the Polish Cultural Institute. www.polishculture.org.uk

LIVERPOOL - WED 10 OCT
Pawel Huelle ain Liverpool
In conjunction with Merside Polonia. More info to follow. Toxteth Library, Windsor Street, Liverpool L8 1XF.
7.30pm
Free
Visit supported by the Polish Cultural Institute. www.polishculture.org.uk
These visits have been supported by the Polish Cultural Institute. www.polishculture.org.uk

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