Andrzej Sapkowski

Andrzej Sapkowski
Sapkowski at Lucca Comics and Games 2015
Born (1948-06-21) 21 June 1948
Łódź, Poland
Occupation Novelist
Citizenship Polish
Period 1986–present
Genre Fantasy, history
Notable works The Witcher Saga
The Hussite Trilogy
Notable awards Janusz A. Zajdel Award
Paszport Polityki
Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis
World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement
David Gemmell Legend Award
Ignotus Award
European Science Fiction Society Award
Signature
Website
andrzejsapkowski.pl

Andrzej Sapkowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈandʐɛj sapˈkɔfskʲi]; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer. He is best known for his book series, The Witcher. His books have been translated into about 20 languages.[1]

Biography

Sapkowski novels on display at an Empik store in Katowice, Poland

Sapkowski studied economics at the University of Łódź, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. He started his literary career as a translator, in particular, of science fiction. He says he wrote his first short story, "The Witcher" ("Wiedźmin", also translated "The Hexer" or "Spellmaker") on a whim, in order to enter a contest by Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka. In an interview he said that being a businessman at the time and thus familiar with marketing, he knew how to sell, and indeed, he won the 3rd prize.[2] The story was published in Fantastyka in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of "The Witcher", comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.[3]

The main character of "The Witcher" is Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter trained for this since childhood. Geralt exists in a morally ambiguous universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe.[3] The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology.[4]

Translations of his books and other derivative works

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Finnish, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, English, Italian, Dutch, Turkish, Estonian, Romanian and Swedish. An English translation of The Last Wish short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.[5] From 2008, the Witcher saga is published by Gollancz.[6] The English translation of Sapkowski's novel Blood of Elves won the David Gemmell Legend Award in 2009.[7][8]

In 2001, a television series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

The Polish game developer, CD Projekt Red, created a role-playing game series based on The Witcher universe. The first game, titled simply The Witcher, was first released in October 2007.[9] The sequel, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was released in 2011. The third and final game in the trilogy, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, was released in May 2015.

In May 2017 The Witcher was picked up by Netflix to be adapted as a television series. Sapkowski will serve as a creative consultant on the project.[10]

Awards and recognition

Sapkowski is a recipient of numerous awards from Polish fandom. Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" ("Lesser Evil") (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" ("Sword of Destiny") (1992) and "W leju po bombie" ("In a Bomb Crater") (1993), and two for the novels, Krew elfów (Blood of Elves) (1994) and Narrenturm (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for Muzykanci (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year. In 2003 he was nominated for one of Poland's most prestigious literary prizes Nike Award for his novel Narrenturm. He also received several Russian fandom awards.[11]

Since 2008 he has been an honorary citizen of the city of Łódź.

Bibliography

The Witcher Saga

Short story collections

  • The Witcher (Wiedźmin, 1990), 5 stories (4 were reprinted in The Last Wish, one in Something ends, Something begins).
  • Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia, 1992), 6 stories. English edition: 2015 [19]
  • The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie, 1993), 7 stories. English edition: 2007 (in US: 2008).
  • The short story "Spellmaker" in A Polish Book of Monsters (edited and translated by Michael Kandel, 2010) is another translation of the short story "The Witcher" from The Witcher .[20]
  • Something ends, Something begins (Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna, 2000), 8 stories (only two are related to The Witcher saga).
  • Maladie and other stories (Maladie i inne opowiadania, 2012), 10 stories (only two are related to The Witcher saga).

Pentalogy

Standalone novel

  • Season of Storms (Sezon burz, 2013). English edition: 22 May 2018 – set between the short stories in The Last Wish.[24]

Hussite Trilogy

Other novels

Other works

  • The Eye of Yrrhedes (Oko Yrrhedesa, 1995), roleplaying game.
  • The World of King Arthur. Maladie (Świat króla Artura. Maladie, 1995), essay and an illustrated short story set in Arthurian mythology.
  • Manuscript Discovered in a Dragon's Cave (Rękopis znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini, 2001), fantasy encyclopedic compendium.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Andrzej Sapkowski - Biografia".
  2. ↑ НО МЫ ЖЕ СЛАВЯНЕ! РАЗГОВОР С АНДЖЕЕМ САПКОВСКИМ, An interview with Sapkowski for Russian monthly magazine "World of Fatnastics"
  3. 1 2 (in Polish) Marek Oramus Jedynie słuszny wizerunek wiedźmina, Polityka – nr 36 (2261) from 2000-09-02; pp. 52–54
  4. ↑ The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski , fantasybookreview
  5. ↑ "The Last Wish Cover Reveal. . . of sorts!". Gollancz blog.
  6. ↑ "Blood of elves". worldcat.org.
  7. ↑ "The final 2008 longlist for the David Gemmell Legends Award". 1 January 2009. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  8. ↑ Alison Flood, Gemmell prize for fantasy goes to Polish novel, Blood of Elves, Guardian, Friday 19 June 2009
  9. ↑ "The Witcher Official Website – Official Release Date!". Archived from the original on 9 July 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2007.
  10. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/witcher-saga-tv-series-adaptation-ordered-at-netflix-1004558
  11. ↑ "Анджей Сапковский". FantLab.ru.
  12. ↑ "World Fantasy Awards 2016"
  13. ↑ "Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski wręczył medale „Zasłużony Kulturze - Gloria Artis”", April 14, 2014
  14. ↑ Gloria Artis award database, award dated by October 10, 2012
  15. ↑ ESFS Awards 2010-2015
  16. ↑ Flood, Alison (19 June 2009). "Gemmell prize for fantasy goes to Polish novel, Blood of Elves". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "Andrzej Sapkowski - biography". culture.pl. October 2010.
  18. ↑ ESFS Awards 1990-1999
  19. ↑ "Sword of Destiny". hachettebookgroup.com.
  20. ↑ "A Polish Book of Monsters: Five Dark Tales from Contemporary Poland". cosmopolitanreview.com.
  21. ↑ Amazon page
  22. ↑ "ISBN Unavailable". Orion Publishing Group.
  23. 1 2 "Gollancz Acquire Three More Witcher Novels". Gollancz blog.
  24. ↑ Aleksandra Ksann. "Sezon Burz - Wiedźmin - Andrzej Sapkowski - Serwis o filmach, książkach, grach i technologiach". mediarivermagazine.pl. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.

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