Kajtochowa Anna

BIO

Born on 21 July 1928 into a peasant family in Brzozów, near Krosno in the Subcarpathian region; daughter of Michał Nogaj and Helena, née Szarek. She attended Brzozów Primary School from 1935. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, she continued to attend the school before joining the local Two-Year Trade School (Dwuletnia Szkoła Handlowa) in 1942. Following the retreat of the German military from the region, she attended the local Kazimierz the Great Humanities Secondary School from 1944, completing her advanced secondary education in 1948. The same year she joined the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and then, after its fusion with the Polish Workers' Party, the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), remaining a member until 1990. She studied journalism at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. In parallel she also worked as a teacher at the Pedagogical Secondary School and Grammar School in Bochnia (1948-1951) and at the specialist Trade Middle School in Krakow (1949-1951). She graduated in 1951 and was directed to work at the editorial board of the daily newspaper "Gazeta Krakowska". She initially worked in the newspaper's office before becoming head of the agriculture section. From October 1956 she was head of the information section, before moving on to the youth section and reporters' section. She published brief notes in the newspaper from 1949, using various cryptonyms. She was sacked from the editorial board in 1959 having been accused of having a petit bourgeois worldview. She joined the Association of Polish Journalists (Stowarzyszenie Dziennikarzy Polskich) in 1954. In the 1960s she studied Polish philology for four semesters at the Higher School of Education (Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna w Krakowie; now the Pedagogical University of Krakow). She made her debut as a poet in 1964 with the poem Aleja Róż (Rose Avenue), which appeared in "Głos Młodzieży Wiejskiej" (no. 1/2) where she continued to publish her verse until 1968. Between 1969 and 1971, she published poems and reviews – using the cryptonym (hk) – in "Głos Młodzieży". She was also involved in editing "Arkusze Poetyckie" (Poetry Volumes), issued by the same periodical. She was appointed secretary of the Youth Ciricle (Koło Młodych) of the Krakow Branch of the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP). Between 1972 and 1982, she was editor in the production department of the periodical "Student" before serving in the same role at the publication "TeMI" from 1982 until her retirement in 1985. She collaborated with the literary clubs of the Polish Teachers' Union (Związek Nauczycielstwa Polskiego – ZNP) and the Workers' Cultural Association (Robotnicze Stowarzyszenie Twórców Kultury). In 1981, she became a founding member of the Nadstawie Literary Group, which was active until 1988. She joined the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP) in 1984, serving as secretary of the Krakow Branch from 1995 to 2005. She was associated with Konfraternia Poetów (Confraternity of Poets), publishing her works in its anthologies. During this period she published in periodicals including "Lektura" (1992-93), "Magdalenka Literacka" (1994-95), "Akant" (2003-04), and "Poezja Dzisiaj" (1999-2001, 2003). Alongside writing prose and poetry, she was also active as an editor of volumes of poetry and anthologies, including the almanacs of the regular Krakow Poetry Nights (Krakowska Noc Poetów). From 1995 she served as literary consultant for the Każdy Literary Group, held poetry workshops in Olesno and organized the inter-school Józef Lompa Literary Competition. She joined the Krakow-based Artistic and Literary Society (Stowarzyszenie Twórcze Artystyczno-Literackie) in 2001. She was made an honorary member of the Polish American Poets Academy in 2004. She was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit in 1957, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1997 and the Honoris Gratia order of the mayor of Krakow in 2008. She married the literary historian and literary critic Jacek Kajtoch in 1951. They had a daughter, the Polish philologist and artist Marta (b. 1952, married name: Bela), and a son, Wojciech (b. 1957), a specialist in press studies and professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She died on 19 March 2011 in Krakow and is buried at the city's Rakowicki Cemetery.

Twórczość

1. Babcia. [Powieść]. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie 1982, 175 s.

BIO

Twórczość

Nagrody

Przekłady utworów literackich w antologiach zagranicznych

angielski

rosyjski

ukraiński

Przekłady

Prace redakcyjne

Omówienia i recenzje

Wywiady

Słowniki i bibliografie

Ogólne

Książki

Artykuły

Babcia

Rosa przedświtu

Sytuacje

Krawędź

Uroda tarniny

Sytuacje II

Tamten brzeg

Usiłowałam być człowiekiem

Krzyk lelka

Stygnąca kipiel

Cień Ozyrysa

Ogród ostów

Bezdrożem ścierniska

Siódmy krąg

Rosła kalina

Wyłania się wiosna znad konturów cienia

Zza porannych mgieł

Świetliki

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