2021 has been declared to be the Year of Stanisław Lem. We talk to Szymon Kloska, curator of the Lem 2021 programme, about the forthcoming celebrations.

ANNA MAZUR: How did Stanisław Lem end up living in Kraków? What was his life here like?
SZYMON KLOSKA: Stanisław Lem first arrived in Kraków in 1945 as part of repatriation. He spent a happy childhood in Lwów and endured the trauma of the Second World War in the ghetto there, which he and his family were lucky to survive. When they moved to Kraków, they first settled at Śląska Street. He later moved to a flat at Bonerowska Street, and then to a small house in Kliny Borkowskie with his wife Barbara. Lem dithered about the move, and only decided to take the plunge once he bought a car. In fact he had several over the years (he was a big fan of motoring!) – he would drive his latest model to the city centre and then walked from office to office, at the “Tygodnik Powszechny” and “Przekrój” weeklies, the Wydawnictwo Literackie publishing house, the Polish Writers’ Union and Hotel Cracovia. This was when he was writing – he drafted most of his texts in Kraków.

Kraków is associated with many globally-acclaimed authors, yet it is Stanisław Lem who was chosen as the patron of the Centre of Literature and Language whose opening is planned for 2024. Why him?
I would turn the question around, and ask “Why only now?”. It’s true that Kraków is associated with myriad authors, in particular our two Nobel laureates. But we already have the Miłosz Festival and the Wisława Szymborska Award and Foundation, and the Potocki Palace is preparing a permanent exhibition dedicated to Szymborska. Lem was an iconic writer and the most widely translated Polish author; his works remain as popular as ever, and they are frequently adapted for theatre and translated anew. I think it’s perfectly reasonable that Kraków has decided to become more involve with his heritage. Exploring his works is the perfect opportunity for discussions on some fascinating – and current! – topics, such as engineering of technological processes, bioengineering and the climate crisis. These subjects are no longer just the domain of experts; they have entered our daily discourse, and the humanities – including literature – are also becoming involved. All this makes Lem the perfect patron for the centre.

What impact will this centre have on Kraków’s image?
Lem popularised the retro-futuristic aesthetic: The Cyberiad and Fables for Robots feature adventures of machines set in a distant future told using the most beautiful, classic form of language. He frequently intertwined futurological visions with archaic concepts. In a similar vein, Kraków is seen as a city of history and traditions, embodied in Wawel Castle and the Main Market Square, but also as a city of the IT industry and start-ups. It is also home of the developers of the computer game The Invincible, based on Lem’s novel of the same title. The “Planet Lem” Centre of Literature and Language will host an exhibition dedicated to language and communication, and it will be the new seat of the administration of the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature programme. We also aim to provide a space for academics and researchers in the sciences and the humanities to encourage them to come together to contemplate the future of humankind. Planet Lem will become a central point of a brand-new network of associations.

What events can we expect as part of the Year of Stanisław Lem in Kraków?
Events organised by KBF and a network of partners are already happening online – join us on our PLAY KRAKÓW platform! We will continue to add more materials throughout the year. The Potocki Palace will host several meetings, mainly focusing on education, and we will return to Lem’s books to read them afresh. We will host some of the greatest Lem scholars and other academics for the cycle Crème de la Lem, held as part of the Reading School series, to discuss the author’s works and consider what they mean to us today. The meetings will explore less-well-known works such as The Mask, Fiasco, Return from the Stars, Memoirs Found in the Bathtub and Summa Technologiae, re-issued last year.
Events culminate in September with Lem’s Birthday held at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, featuring the Megabit Bomb Festival, the Futurological Congress and an international conference Philosophical Lem. There will be plenty more events throughout the year, including a major outdoor exhibition in Planty Park curated by Przemek Dębowski, cover designer of the latest editions of Lem’s works. And of course there will be new publications, including a brand-new edition of Fables for Robots illustrated by Przemek Dębowski, Agnieszka Gajewska’s biography of the author and Wojciech Orliński’s book about Lem in communist Poland. There will also be books for kids, including Jon J. Muth’s graphic novel The Seventh Voyage based on one of the stories from Star Diaries. You can find full information on all events on the websites of the Year of Stanisław Lem and the “Planet Lem” Centre of Literature and Language.

The motto of the events is “I Have Seen the Future”. What happens later? After all, there will be no shortage of events in Kraków…
Interest in Stanisław Lem is so high that we won’t be able to cram all of our ideas into 2021. Many events happen regardless of anniversaries, simply because of great interest. I’m sure that Kraków will be especially busy, since “Planet Lem” is almost at our fingertips…

The text published in the 1/2021 issue of the “Kraków Culture” quarterly.