Come meet Polish journalist Witold Szablowski, as he presents his new book about Turkey, The Assassin from Apricot City, as well as his reporting in Bosnia, Poland, and other postsocialist countries. Light refreshments will be served after the presentation.
Witold Szabłowski, The Assassin From Apricot City, tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (London: Stork Press, Nov 2013).
Witold Szabłowski’s reportage from Turkey collected in this volume, published originally in Poland in 2010, is counted among the best Polish compilations in this genre of the past few years. Szabłowski has revealed himself to be a master of this approach at a relatively young age. The stories assembled in The Assassin from Apricot City paint – as some reviewers have noted – “a multi-layered story of Turkey torn between East and West, between Islam and Islamophobia, suffused with conservatism and post-modernity, longing for Europe while at the same time displaying a healthy dose of Euro-skepticism. In each of Szabłowski’s tales someone’s fate hangs in balance, every one of his subjects has a chance to tell his story, often surprised at his own sudden courage to do so, fostered by the Polish reporter.“
Co-sponsorsed by the Polish Cultural Institute, New York, the Polish Studies Initiative, and the Polish Support Fund.
