KAZIMIERZ BURNAT

Polish poet, essayist, translator of Slavic literature, journalist, literary critic, culture animator, born in Szczepanowice on the Dunajec River.

His life mottos are: remembering the dead‒the source of longevity; doing good‒the path to humanity.

Author of 31 books of poetry, including 8 translations from Czech and Ukrainian, and over 60 collective books with translations of works from these languages, as well as Belarusian, Russian, Slovenian and Hungarian. Co-author of approximately 400 anthologies and monographs published in Poland and abroad. Translated into 60 foreign languages. Instructor of literary workshops, juror of competitions. Organizer or co-organizer and active participant of numerous national and international festivals and literary meetings. For years, organizer of the International Poetry Festival „Poets Without Borders” in Polanica-Zdrój.

He received state, ministerial and regional awards. Honored with the Silver Medal „For Merit to Culture Gloria Artis”. Winner of the Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Award (2019), the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Award for outstanding achievements in the field of culture (2022), the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Award for creative achievements (2023) and Shabdaguchha International Poetry Award for significant contribution to world poetry (USA/Bangladesh 2023), among others. Honorary Citizen of Polanica-Zdrój.

In the years 1995-2004 vice-president, and from 2004-2015 president of the Literary Group “Dysonans”; 2006-2011 editor-in-chief of the social and cultural magazine “Bez kurtyny”; 2007-2015 chairman of the Main Court of Peers of the Polish Writers’ Union (ZLP); 2011-2014 vice-president, and since 2015 president of the Lower Silesian Branch of the ZLP in Wrocław. From 2015-2023 member of the Presidium of the Main Board of the ZLP‒chairman of the Qualification Committee. Member of the European Society of Culture and the Journalists’ Association of the Republic of Poland.