Nobel Prize winning author Olga Tokarczuk joins us from Poland to discuss her award winning book Flights as well as her forthcoming "magnum opus" The Book of Jacob. The program concludes with a live conversation with Olga's translator Jennifer Croft, winner of the Man Booker International Prize for Flights to discuss her work with Olga—including the 7-year journey to get Flights published in the US. Jennifer will also discuss her translation of Argentinian authors and the ways her own writing is influenced by the voices she translates.

Languages: Polish
Format: Pre-recorded conversation in Polish with English subtitles + live conversation in English; viewed virtually

Jennifer Croft was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 and a National Book Award Finalist for her translation from Polish of Olga Tokarczuk’s FLIGHTS. She is the recipient of Fulbright, PEN, MacDowell, and National Endowment for the Arts grants and fellowships, as well as the inaugural Michael Henry Heim Prize for Translation and a Tin House Workshop Scholarship for her memoir HOMESICK. She holds a PhD from Northwestern University and an MFA from the University of Iowa. She currently divides her time between Buenos Aires and Los Angeles.

Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual. In 2018 she won the Man Booker International Prize for her novel Flights (translated by Jennifer Croft). In 2019, she was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2015 Tokarczuk received the German-Polish International Bridger Prize, a recognition extended to persons especially accomplished in the promotion of peace, democratic development and mutual understanding among the people and nations of Europe. Her works have been translated into 37 languages, making her one of the most translated contemporary Polish writers.

Pittsburgh International Literary Festival (LitFest) is a 10-day event that considers themes of migration, identity, and displacement with an emphasis on works in translation.
(Full Schedule Here)


LitFest: Olga Tokarczuk & Jennifer Croft