Wiesław Myśliwski, Two-Time Nike Literary Award Winner, Passes Away in Warsaw at 94

Wiesław Myśliwski, one of Poland's most celebrated prose writers and a two-time winner of the Nike Literary Award, died on March 29, 2026, in Warsaw at the age of 94. His death was announced by the Book Institute and the Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Myśliwski was born on March 25, 1932, in Dwikozy near Sandomierz in the Świętokrzyskie region, and spent his entire adult life connected with Warsaw. He was widely regarded as the foremost literary chronicler of the Polish countryside and peasant experience, whose novels transcended regional subject matter to address universal questions of memory, fate, and human existence. His works were translated into more than 20 languages, including English, German, French, Arabic, Hebrew, and Georgian.

Myśliwski studied Polish philology at the Catholic University of Lublin, graduating in 1956, and subsequently worked as an editor at Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza. He made his literary debut in 1967 with the novel "Nagi sad," which critics immediately recognized for its unusual maturity. Between 1975 and 1990, he headed the editorial team of the quarterly "Regiony" and also edited the cultural biweekly "Sycyna." He was known for an exceptionally slow, meticulous writing process, publishing successive novels on average every ten years and working in pencil rather than on a computer. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Opole in 2009 and the Jagiellonian University in 2022.

Myśliwski's literary output spanned six decades and included novels, plays, and essays that drew consistently from the world of the Polish village and its transformations across the twentieth century. His 1984 novel "Kamień na kamieniu" established his exceptional standing in Polish letters, while "Widnokrąg," published in 1996, brought him the Nike Award. "Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli," published in 2006, earned him a second Nike, making him the first writer to win the prize twice. His final novel, "Ucho igielne," appeared in 2018. The idea for "Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli" had accompanied the writer for 40 years before he committed it to the page. His works inspired numerous theatrical and film adaptations, including a television performance based on "Widnokrąg" directed by Izabella Cywińska and a film adaptation of "Klucznik" featuring Tadeusz Łomnicki.

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Politicians and writers pay tribute across party lines Public figures from across the political spectrum paid tribute to Myśliwski in the hours following the announcement of his death. Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty described the writer as someone who "was out of step with the times," noting that he wrote slowly, in pencil, endlessly corrected his texts, and never used a computer. „We can learn a lot from his prose. Humility, focus and patience in today's crazy times” — Włodzimierz Czarzasty via Polska Agencja Prasowa Minister of Culture Marta Cienkowska recalled that Myśliwski was among the authors read "with attention by successive generations all over the world" and described the publication of each of his books as "almost a literary holiday." Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski noted that the writer was an honorary citizen of Warsaw and that, though born in Dwikozy, he had spent his entire adult life connected with the capital. Journalist and writer Mariusz Szczygieł offered a personal tribute, admitting that Myśliwski's intellectual presence had always filled him with awe. „No one intimidated me like Mr. Wiesław. When Mrs. Hanna invited us to a Christmas dinner and said that the Myśliwskis would be there, I made excuses for fear that the mediocrity of my intellect might manifest itself in an unseemly way in Mr. Wiesław's presence” — Mariusz Szczygieł via Polska Agencja Prasowa

A writer who carried peasant fate into universal literature Myśliwski's literary achievement rested on his ability to transform the specific world of the Polish countryside into a vehicle for universal moral and philosophical inquiry. Critics described his novels not as rural literature in a narrow sense, but as moralities set in twentieth-century Polish reality that retained their universality across cultures and generations. He drew on his own childhood experiences — including wartime memories of burning villages seen from Winnica hill — to give his fiction an autobiographical undercurrent, even as he publicly distanced himself from autobiographism. He told Polityka magazine that literature for him was "an attempt at self-knowledge" and that his books "know more about me than I do myself, and know it more truthfully." „I always have the impression that each of my books is unfinished, that if I sat with it for another year, two, three, I would write a better one” — Wiesław Myśliwski via polityka.pl He received the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Gold Medal "Meritorious for Polish Culture Gloria Artis," and in 2019 was awarded the Poznań Literary Award. Writer Joanna Bator wrote that Myśliwski's books had never disappointed her, calling him "independent, faithful to himself, unhurried, free spirit" and adding that he "was bigger than all the literary awards in the world combined."