CZABANOWSKA-WRÓBEL Anna

Born on 1 June 1962 in Krakow into a family of doctors; daughter of the radiologist Lesław Czabanowski and the dermatologist and professor of medicine Jadwiga Bogdaszewska. She was a pupil at the Heroes of Westerplatte Grammar School (No. 12) in Krakow from 1977. In 1980 she was the champion of the 10th Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language. After completing her advanced secondary education in 1981, she started a degree in Polish philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. She made her debut as a literary critic in 1984 with a review of Jan Polkowski's Ogień (Flame), which was published as Współczesność jako obowiązek (Modernity as a duty) in a periodical which was not subject to official censorship, "Miesięcznik Małopolski" (no. 4; under the pen name: Joanna Zberecka). In 1986 she was awarded a master's degree (with distinction) for her dissertation Wyobraźnia akwatyczna w poezji Młodej Polski (The Aquatic Imagination in the poetry of "Young Poland"), which was supervised by Prof. Maria Podraza-Kwiatkowska. She made her debut as a literary historian in 1987 with a selection from her master's thesis that was published in the prestigious journal "Pamiętnik Literacki" (no. 3; under the name: Anna Czabanowska). Further excerpts were also published in "Ruch Literacki". The same year, she was appointed as a temporary teaching assistant at the Institute of Polish Philology (later the Institute of Polish Studies and, from 2004, the Faculty of Polish Studies) at UJ, becoming a teaching assistant there in 1988. Her research largely focused on the poetry of Young Poland, the transformations of contemporary poetry, fairy tales in literature, and the question of childhood and children in literature and culture. She published essays and studies in "Pamiętnik Literacki” (1987-88, 1994, 2002-03, 2007 and 2009) and in "Ruch Literacki" (1987, 1991-98, 2000-04 and 2006-12). Her articles and reviews, as well as occasionally poems and short stories, appeared in underground publications that were not subject to state censorship, including "Miesięcznik Małopolski" (1984-86; as: Joanna Zberecka) and "Kultura Niezależna" (1989), as well as in the official periodicals "Twórczość" (1987; publishing here under the name Anna Czabanowska), "Tygodnik Powszechny" (1988, 2000-03 and 2006), "Dekada Literacka" (1991-92, 1994-97, 2000, 2002, 2006-08, 2011; in 1996 likewise as Joanna Zberecka), and "NaGłos" (1991 and 1993). In 1995 she was awarded a doctoral degree for her study Baśń w literaturze Młodej Polski (Fairy tales in the literature of "Young Poland"), which was supervised by Prof. Maria Podraza-Kwiatkowska. In 1996, she was appointed lecturer. In 2004, she was awarded a habilitation at the Faculty of Philology at UJ for her study Dziecko. Symbol i zagadnienie antropologiczne w literaturze Młodej Polski (Children: A Symbol and Anthropological Mystery in the Literature of "Young Poland"). In 2004/2005 she was awarded a grant from the Rector's Scholarship Fund (Rektorski Fundusz Stypendialny) to write her book Poszukiwanie blasku. O poezji Adama Zagajewskiego (In Search of Splendour: Adam Zagajewski's poetry), which was published in 2005. In 2007 she was appointed associate professor at the Chair of the History of Positivist Literature and the Young Poland Period (Katedra Historii Literatury Pozytywizmu i Młodej Polski) at the Faculty of Polish Studies at UJ. The same year she was awarded the collective UJ Rector's Prize for her achievements in teaching and administration. Her articles and reviews have appeared in periodicals including "Teksty Drugie" (1993, 1995, 1997-98, 2000-05, 2008-09 and 2013), "Życie Duchowe" (2000-01), "Znak" (2006 and 2011), "Alma Mater" (2007-08 and 2013/2014), "Przestrzenie Teorii" (2007), "Wielogłos" (2007 and 2016), "Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne" (2009 and 2012), "Przegląd Kulturoznawczy" (2009), "Zeszyty Literackie" (2010 and 2013), "Fraza" (2011), and "Nowa Dekada Krakowska" (since 2014). She contributed biographies of Polish poets to the volumes Młoda Polska (Young Poland) and Dwudziestolecie międzywojenne (The Interwar Period) published in the series Historia literatury polskiej w dziesięciu tomach (The History of Polish Literature in Ten Volumes, 2004-2005). She also contributed to the volumes Młoda Polska i dwudziestolecie międzywojenne (Young Poland and the interwar period) and Literatura współczesna (Contemporary Literature), which appeared in the series Historia literatury i kultury polskiej (The History of Polish Literature and Culture, 2007-2008). She was a juror on the Lesser Poland District Committee of the Polish Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language (Małopolski Komitet Okręgowy Olimpiady Literatury i Języka Polskiego) before joining the newly-formed Krakow Committee in 2005. She founded the UJ publication series Żywioły wyobraźni (Elements of Imagination) in 2007, becoming its academic editor in 2008. In 2011 she was made a state-appointed professor. In 2012 she acted symbolically as supervisor and gave the laudation at the ceremony presenting Adam Zagajewski with an honorary doctorate from UJ. In 2012 she was appointed to the Committee on Literary Studies of the Polish Academy Sciences and to the Literary History Commission of the Krakow branch of PAN. In 2015 she was made a member of its Presidium. In December 2013 she founded the Section of Children and Young Adults' Literature (Ośrodek Badań Literatury Dziecięcej i Młodzieżowej) at the UJ Faculty of Polish Studies, becoming its director in January 2014. Likewise in 2014 she joined the Polish Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and became a member of the International Association of Polish Studies (Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie Studiów Polonistycznych). In 2015 she was appointed to the editorial board of "Ruch Literacki" where she also published articles. She was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit in 2002 and the Medal of the Commission of National Education in 2008.
She married the literary historian Józef Wróbel in 1987, with whom she had two sons Jerzy (b. 1989) and Marcin (b. 1991). Both have gone on to graduate from law at UJ. She lives in Krakow.