Zyta Rudzka | |
Birth Date: | 10 October 1964 |
Birth Place: | Warsaw, Poland |
Nationality: | Polish |
Alma Mater: | Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University |
Genre: | fiction |
Notableworks: | Ten się śmieje kto ma zęby (2022) Tkanki miękkie (2020) |
Awards: | Gdynia Literary Prize (2018) Nike Award (2023) |
Zyta Rudzka (Polish pronunciation: ; born 10 October 1964) is a Polish novelist, screenwriter, poet and psychologist. She is regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary Polish writers. In 2023, she received the Nike Award, the most important prize for Polish literature.
In 1991, she graduated in psychology from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.[1] She debuted in 1989 with a poetry book Ruchoma rzeczywistość (Moving Reality). Her first novel, Białe klisze (White Films), was published in 1991.
In 1995, the film Erna Rosenstein. Wieczność dla Nikogo based on her script received an award at the Documentary Film Festival in Kraków.
In 2003, she was a jury member of the Debiut TV programme broadcast on Polsat.[2]
In 2016, the theatrical performance of her play Cukier Stanik directed by Agata Puszcz won the Gold Remi Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.[3]
Her 2018 book Krótka wymiana ognia (A Brief Exchange of Fire) won the Gdynia Literary Prize and was shortlisted for Poland's top literature prize, the Nike Award. The book was included on the list of best Polish novels of the last decade by the Polityka weekly magazine.[4]
In 2021, she was awarded the City of Warsaw Prize for her book Tkanki miękkie (Soft Tissues).[5]
In 2023, she won the Nike Award for her novel Ten się śmieje, kto ma zęby (Only Those with Teeth Can Smile). According to the award jury, the book is "important prose that engages the reader, fiction so gripping that it answers questions asked about reality".[6] In the same year, she received the Poznań Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement[7] and was nominated for the Angelus Award.
Her works have benn translated into numerous languages including German, Czech, Italian, French, English, Japanese, Croatian and Russian.