Monday, September 14 | 17:30 | Warszawa screening room
Why do we need bookstores? Meeting with booksellers Malwina Antczak and Emilia Smentek and writer Magdalena Grzebałkowska following the screening of THE BOOKSELLERS, dir. D.W. Young
Language: Polish
Partner institutions: Sztuka Wyboru, Cafe Księgarnia Vademecum
The state of readership in Poland couldn’t be any worse, which is why we’re glad that people started reading more during the pandemic—and not just “The Plague”. Still, what function do bookshops serve nowadays? Independent, niche bookstores, like the ones depicted in “The Booksellers”, are dying out both in the US and in Poland. Fortunately, valiant booksellers with a mission haven’t gone completely extinct just yet; they’re still able to thrill book buyers. Tri-City booksellers Malwina Antczak and Emilia Smentek, along with writer Magdalena Grzebałkowska, will join us to discuss why it’s important to fight for bookshops and booksellers.
Guests:
Malwina Antczak — graduate of the Artistic Institution Management Department at the University of Gdańsk. Bookseller at Sztuka Wyboru, initiator of the bicycle bookstore project “Księgarnia na rowerze w czasie epidemii’’.
Magdalena Grzebałkowska — journalist, bestselling author (“Ksiądz Paradoks. Biografia Jana Twardowskiego”, “Beksińscy. Portret podwójny”, “1945. War and Peace”). 2016 Nike Readers’ Choice Award winner.
Emilia Smentek — independent bookseller and cultural animator, affiliated with the Vademecum bookstore in Gdynia for over a decade.
Moderator:
Przemek Rydzewski — co-founder and coordinator of the Tri-City edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity, co-organizer of the Gdynia Literary Prize and its affiliated festival, Miasto Słowa.
