Wojtek Kosc

Gazeta Wyborcza's literary prize, the Nike, is to be awarded on Sunday, 3 October. The writers shortlisted for the prize were Stanislaw Baranczak, Jerzy Pilch, Ryszard Przybylski, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Olga Tokarczuk and Adam Zagajewski. In the meantime, Gazeta Wyborcza's readers have awarded their prize to Olga Tokarczuk. More on the Nike award next week.

The 42nd Warsaw Autumn Music Festival ended. During the festival, a great variety of the 20th-century music was presented, although the emphasis was on chamber ensembles.

Young and widely acclaimed theater director, Grzegorz Jarzyna, staged Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus during the 49th Berliner Westwochen. His version of the masterpiece surprised the audience with its traditionality, but did not convince the German critics who wrote of it as a "disaster". The Polish premiere of Jarzyna's Doctor Faustus took place on 1 October. Info: 0048 71 343 86 53.

As a part of the Krakow 2000 Festival, the 75th anniversary of Joseph Conrad's death was celebrated. Celebrations took form of an international conference entitled "Conrad and History". The participants tried to prove strong connections between Conrad's prose and Poland's turbulent history and tradition, although Conrad is ususually classified as an English writer (he emigrated to England as a child).

In the Polityka weekly, Polish art critics were asked to choose the ten greatest artists of the 20th century. Among foreign artists, Pablo Picasso took first, followed by Marcel Duchamp and Kasimir Malevich (who is of Polish origin). Tadeusz Kantor won the Polish classification, with painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski and sculptor Katarzyna Kobro behind him.

Also in the cultural news: "Off Prezentacje Teatralne" started in Bydgoszcz on 1 October. Info: 0048 52 345 91 22.

Wojtek Kosc, 1 October 1999