<strong>Dancing Bears: Polish writer Witold Szablowski on Nostalgia for Communism</strong>

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In his latest book, Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny, the young Polish writer and journalist Witold Szabłowski goes looking for what remains of the communist ideals – the dancing bears from his title are released former circus animals from Bulgaria who can barely survive in the wild. During his reporter’s travels through Poland, Albania, and Bulgaria, among other countries, he records the intriguing stories of people who, like the tamed bears, have been freed but often still long for the communist era. Freedom is trickier than we think, he finds, and when inequality increases, support for communism grows. Szabłowski discussed his work with Michel Krielaars, Books Editor at the NRC and author of, among other books, Alles voor het moederland (Everything for the motherland), about Stalin’s reign of terror in the days of Babel and Grossman.

Event curated by Toef Jaeger (Writers Unlimited)
Books for sale courtesy of Van Stockum Booksellers

Information

Date and time Friday 16 November 2018 from 20:30 to 22:00 hrs
Location Podium B - Centrale Bibliotheek Den Haag, Spui 68, 5e etage

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Witold Szabłowski

(Poland, 1980) studied journalism and political science in Warsaw. After an internship at CNN in Istanbul he wrote a series of reports about Turkey for the Polish daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza; some of this material formed part of his acclaimed essay collection Zabójca z miasta moreli (Assassin from Apricot City). In it, Szablowski provides a nuanced portrait of a society torn between East and West, Islamism and Islamophobia, the desire to belong to Europe and an aversion to all things European. He always chooses a particular angle; for example, he went looking for the story behind the shoe thrown at George W. Bush by an Iraqi journalist. In 2010, his reportage Dziś przypłyną tu dwa trupy (Two Bodies Washed Up Today), about immigrants trying to reach Europe via Istanbul, won the Journalism Prize of the European Parliament. At the invitation of the Flemish-Duch cultural organization Huis de Buren (Neighbours' House), Szablowski wrote Alle poorten van Lublin (All the Gates of Lublin), a literary portrait of the Polish city of Lublin.
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Michel Krielaars

(Netherlands, 1961) is a writer, journalist and, since 2012, Editor-in-Chief of the literature section of NRC newspaper. He studied history and Russian at the University of Amsterdam. Krielaars has written novels, a short-story collection, and various books about Russian history. Het brilletje van Tsjechov (Through Chekov's Glasses) was published in 2014, a report of his travels through Russia in the footsteps of the famous author. His book Reizen door Rusland (Travels through Russia) earned high praise and won the 2015 Bob den Uyl Prize. Alles voor het moederland (Everything for the Mother Country, 2017) tells about Stalin's reign of terror in the times of Isaak Babel and Vasili Grossman.
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