NIEWRZĘDA Krzysztof

Born on 22 February 1964 in Szczecin; son of the sports activist Henryk Niewrzęda and the medical analyst Regina, née Stenzel. His mother was also an actor at the Mime Studio of Szczecin University of Technology. He attended grammar school in Szczecin. During this period and afterwards, from 1980 to 1986, he was drummer in several underground bands from the city, including Brunatne Sklepienie, Casus, and Aramis. After completing advanced secondary education, he studied at the Faculty of Construction and Architecture at the Szczecin University of Technology. He made his debut as a poet in 1985, publishing the poems Starość (Old Age), Na śliskim bruku w Londynie (On a slippery pavement in London) and U nas w Auschwitz (At home in Auschwitz) in the weekly "Morze i Ziemia" (no. 12). He abandoned his studies in 1986 and worked as a design assistant at an architecture firm in Szczecin until 1988. He married the editor Dorota Damaszke in early 1989. He and his wife subsequently left for West Germany. They were initially in a camp for foreigners in Friedland before being sent to settle in Bremen on condition that they would not leave the city for three years. In 1992, he received permanent residency in Germany. In 1993/94 he continued his education at the Institut für Wirtschaftstraining und angewandte Weltsprachen (Institute for Economic Training and Applied World Languages) in Bremen. He then spent four years working as a design assistant at an architecture firm in Bremen. In 1997, he won the Pegaz – Europa '97 – European Competition for a Polish Émigré Poem, which ran under the motto Miejsce w którym jestem… (The Place Where I am...). From 1997 to 1999 he was a member of the NAS-TU artistic group, which was formed by young Polish artists living in Bremen. During this period he was editor of the Polish literary quarterly "B1 — Bundesstrasse 1", which was published in Germany. His poems also appeared in the periodical. From 1997 to 2001 he collaborated with the Hamburg-based biweekly for Polish émigrés "Kurier". His poems, essays, articles and reviews also appeared during this period in other Germany-based Polish émigré publications, including "Kurier Berliński" (1998), "Kurier Polonica" (2000 and 2001) and "Kolano" (2000 and 2001). He also published in Polish periodicals, including "Pogranicza" (1995–96, and then as a regular contributor 1999–2012), "Arkusz" (1997), "Akant" (1999–2002), "Suplement" (1999 and 2000), "Twórczość" (1999–2001) and "Odra" (2000). He was involved in the activities of the Szczecin gallery Piastów 75, organizing meetings there between 1999 and 2003 with Polish writers who were based abroad. In 2000, he went to Berlin following an invitation from Literarisches Colloquium. He subsequently settled permanently in the city and collaborated with Klub Polskich Nieudaczników (Polish Losers' Club), which was based in the city. He presented his work at numerous meetings organized by various academic, literary and cultural institutions in both Poland and Germany. He was a regular guest at international literary festivals, including the Berlin Internationales Literaturfestival (2002 and 2004), Molotov Cocktail (2003), Poesiefestival (2007 and 2009) and Das Osteuropa-Spektakel Kommunalka (2010 and 2011). In 2003, he won the Vienna-based Marek Hłasko International Literary Competition. He was invited to Lithuania in 2004 by the Nida-based Tomo Mano Memorialinis Muziejus (Thomas Mann Memorial Museum). That year he participated in the European Festival of the First Novel (Europäisches Festival des Debütromans) in Salzau. In 2004/05 he presented radio columns in the Polish section of the Berlin-based station Radio Multikulti. During this period his literary works and essay appeared in publications including "Dekada Literacka" (2002), "Kartki" (2002), "Odra" (2002, 2004, and 2009), "Przegląd Polityczny" (2002), "Dialog — Magazyn Polsko-Niemiecki" (2003), "Zarys" (2003 and 2004), "Teka" (2004), "Twórczość" (2004, 2009, and 2015), and "Akcent" (2005), as well as in the internet-based publications "Helikopter" (2008) and "Latarnia Morska" (2008). He also published in the "Tydzień Polski" supplement of the London-based émigré publication "Dziennik Polski i Dziennik Żołnierza" (2005). His texts appeared in German translation in "Der Dreischneuß" (2001), "Der Tagesspiegel" (2005), and "Die Tageszeitung" (2005). He received a grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2009. In subsequent years, he published poetry and short stories in the newspaper "Kurier Szczeciński" (2011), the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" (2011), the weekly "Przekrój" (2012), the festival newspaper "Poznań Poetów" (2013), the periodical "Chimera" (2014), the newspaper "Gazeta Olsztyńska" (2014), the "Tygodnik Wrocław" supplement of the national daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" (2015), the cultural journal "Odra" (2015), the festival newspaper "Opowiadania — International Short Story Festival" (2015) and, in a German translation by Bernhard Hartmann, in "Ostragehege" (2014). In 2012, he co-founded the Szczecin-based literary-cultural quarterly "Elewator", where he published his own works until 2014. He participated in the 2015 International Short Story Festival in Wroclaw. That year marked the start of his collaboration with Józef Skrzek as co-author of lyrics for the band SBB. In 2017, he received the Golden Owl of the Polonia cultural prize. It is awarded by the Vienna-based Polish émigré periodical "Jupiter", which is the official organ of the Club of Polish Intelligentsia in Austria and the Federation of the Polish Congress in Austria. In 2018, he started collaborating as a columnist with the German radio station Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). He lives in Berlin.