13 February 2017 Penguin Random House distinguished Conrad Festival!

The distinction was given by The Penguin Random House - one of the most important English publishing houses in the world. The festival, which is organised by the City of Krakow, Krakow Festival Office and Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation was named one of the 20 literary events worth visiting.

The Academy of Writers appreciated the idea of the festival connected with the figure of Joseph Conrad, focusing on combining diverse traditions by the writer.

The group deemed the Conrad Festival to be one of the 20 most important festivals in the world and a must-see for every lover of literature. The Academy conducts creative writing courses for writers. The jury has selected the final 20 events from among hundreds of literary festivals and events organised even in the most remote places in the world. Conrad Festival was listed among such prestigious events as: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hay Festival, Sydney Writers’ Festival and Berlin International Literature Festival. The Academy mentioned the value of the main idea of the festival, connected with Joseph Conrad. The writer combined various traditions, and yet he never fully erased the borderlines between them. He wrote in English, but he always emphasised that every text written in this language is a translation from a foreign language, a result of an endless translation of ideas into others. The literary work of Joseph Conrad, which symbolises international literary communication, was also appreciated. The writer created inspiring stories, which allow us to better understand people who lived somewhere else.

We would like to remind that every year almost 15000 participants visit the Conrad Festival.

Penguin Random House is a British publishing house, founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane. It took over the market by publishing books at prices affordable for the wide audience. As of now, Penguin is one of the most influential British publishing houses, as it significantly influenced British culture, as well as politics, education and social awareness. Currently, the publishing house offers books for children and adults, including fiction books, guides and popular science books in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South America, Africa and Asia. It employs 10 000 workers and publishes 15 000 titles every single year. The list of authors published by Penguin comprises over 70 Nobel Prize laureates, as well as the most popular writers from all over the world.