Top 250 Books of the Best Polish Literature Translated into English

I am excited to present you the best 250 Polish books translated into English. Poland has a long and rich literary tradition. We have some of the most renowned authors of all time, such as Adam Mickiewicz, Witold Gombrowicz, Jan Kochanowski, Czesław Miłosz, and Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Adam Mickiewicz is often considered the greatest Polish poet. He wrote the poem „Pan Tadeusz”, which is an epic ode to his homeland. Witold Gombrowicz was a renowned novelist and playwright. His works often focus on the absurdity of life and confrontations between tradition and modernity. Jan Kochanowski is regarded as one of the greatest Renaissance poets, and is known for his use of vernacular language to create a unique literary style. Czesław Miłosz was a poet, translator, and essayist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980. And finally, Henryk Sienkiewicz was a novelist and is most famous for his historical trilogy „Ogniem i Mieczem”, „Potop”, and „Pan Wołodyjowski”.

These authors and many others have contributed to Poland’s rich literary. Let’s explore the best 250 Polish books translated into English.

If you are interested in buying or downloading such books, here are a couple of places where you can start searching:

• https://wolnelektury.pl/katalog/lektury/literatura-polska-w-tlumaczeniu-na-jezyki-obce/
• https://eduarena.pl/nauka-jezykow/angielski/literatura/beletrystyka/literatura-polska-w-jezyku-angielskim
• https://www.blackwoolf.eu/sklep/ksiazki/nowe/literatura-polska-po-angielsku/

Novels About Poland That Are Worth Reading

Novels that are set in Poland can be particularly appealing to readers, as they offer a unique glimpse into the culture, history, and lifestyles of the country. From classic works by Nobel Prize-winning authors such as Wladyslaw Reymont and Czeslaw Milosz to more contemporary offerings, there are plenty of novels set in Poland that are worth reading.

Some of the most notable works that you can find in English are:

1. Wladyslaw Reymont – „The Peasant” – Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer
2. Gombrowicz Witold – „Ferdydurke”
3. Herling-Grudziński Gustaw – A World Apart
4. Szpilman Władysław – The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw 1939–45
5. Żeromski Stefan – „The Faithful River”

Polish Books Translated into English – List

• Agoston Maria – „A Gift for You”
• Andrzejewski Jerzy – „Holy Week: A Novel of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”
• Bacewicz Grażyna – „A Distinguishing Mark”
• Baczyński Krzysztof Kamil – „White Magic and Other Poems”
• Biedrzycki Miłosz – „69”
• Bieńczyk Marek – „Tworki”
• Borowski Tadeusz – „Here in Our Auschwitz and Other Stories”
• Borowski Tadeusz – „Postal Indiscretions: The Correspondence of Tadeusz Borowski”
• Borowski Tadeusz – „We were in Auschwitz”
• Borun-Jagodzińska Katarzyna – „Pocket Apocalypse”
• Braun Kazimierz – „Day of Witness”
• Bursa Andrzej – „Killing Auntie and Other Work”
• Marcin Baran – „Carnivorous Boy Carnivorous Bird”
• Rachel Checiński-Roth – „Here There Is No Why”
• Stefan Chwin – „Death in Danzig”
• Lucie Cytryn-Bialer – „For you Nelly”
• Joanna Czechowska – „The Black Madonna of Derby”
• Adam Czerniakow – „The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow: Prelude to Doom”
• Adam Czerniawski – „Selected Poems”
• Adam Czerniawski – „The Invention of Poetry”
• Leszek Czuchajowski – „Diverse Are the Ways of Love”
• Leszek Czuchajowski – „Her Miniature”
• Leszek Czuchajowski – „Poetry. Imaginations of My Days”
• Józefa Renata Dąmbska-Gedroyć – „Journey through Siberia”
• Ludwik B. Domański – „My Flights to Freedom”
• Jerzy Ficowski – „Waiting for the Dog to Sleep”
• Anna Frajlich – „Between Dawn and the Wind”
• Janusz Głowacki – „The Fourth Sister”
• Jerzy Główczewski – „The Accidental Immigrant: A Memoir”
• Michał Głowiński – „The Black Seasons”
• Natasza Goerke – „Farewells to Plasma”
• Witold Gombrowicz – „A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „A Kind of Testament”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Bacacay”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Cosmos”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Ferdydurke” (translated by Danuta Borchardt)
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Philosophy in Six Lessons and a Quarter”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Polish Memories”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Pornografia”
• Gombrowicz Witold – „Possessed or The secret of Myslotch: A Gothic Novel”
• Grabinski Stefan – „In Sarah’s House: Stories”
• Grabinski Stefan – „The Dark Domain”
• Gross Natan – „Who Are You Mr. Grymek?”
• Grynberg Henryk – „Drohobycz Drohobycz and Other Stories: True Tales from the Holocaust and Life After”
• Grynberg Henryk – „The Jewish War and the Victory”
• Hartwig Julia – „In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems”
• Herbert Zbigniew – „Siódmy anioł. Der siebte Engel. The Seventh Angel”
• Herbert Zbigniew – „Elegy for the Departure and Other Poems”
• Herbert Zbigniew – „Selected Poems”
• Herbert Zbigniew – „The Collected Poems”
• Herbert Zbigniew – The King of the Ants: Mythological Essays
• Herbert Zbigniew – The Labyrinth on the Sea
• Herling-Grudziński Gustaw – A World Apart
• Herling-Grudziński Gustaw – The Noonday Cemetery and Other Stories
• Hopfeld Gitel – At the Mercy of Strangers: Survival in Nazi Occupied Poland
• Hopfeld Gitel – Castorp
• Hopfeld Gitel – Mercedes-Benz
• Hopfeld Gitel – The Last Supper
• Iredyński Ireneusz – Selected One-Act Plays for Radio –
• Iwaszkiewicz Jarosław – The Birch Grove and Other Stories –
• Jagielski Wojciech – Towers of Stone: The Battle of Wills in Chechnya –
• Jasieński Bruno – The Mannequins’ Ball –
• Jastrun Tomasz – On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe –
• John Paul II – Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium –
• Kamieńska Anna – Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamieńska –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – Another Day of Life –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – I Wrote Stone: The Selected Poetry of Ryszard Kapuściński –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – Imperium –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – Shah of Shahs –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – The Cobra’s Heart –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – The Emperor –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – The Other –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – The Shadow of the Sun –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – The Soccer War –
• Kapuściński Ryszard – Travels with Herodotus –
• Henia Karmel-Wolfe – „A Wall of Two: Poems of Resistance and Suffering from Kraków to Buchenwald and Beyond”
• Marzanna Kielar – „Salt Monody”
• Piotr Kniecicki – „Blah blah blah: Poems and Cartoon Ideas”
• Piotr Kniecicki – „Moments of Silence Moments of Truth: Poems”
• Piotr Kniecicki – „So What? Poems”
• Jan Kochanowski – „Kto mi dał skrzydła. Who Hath Bewinged Me”
• Jan Kochanowski – „Laments”
• Jan Kochanowski – „The Envoys”
• Jan Kochanowski – „Threnodies and The dismissal of the Greek Envoys”
• Jan Kochanowski – „Treny: The Laments of Kochanowski”
• Felicja Konarska – „Leaves in the Wind”
• Tadeusz Konwicki – „A Minor Apocalypse: A Novel”
• Julian Kornhauser – „Been and Gone”
• Korona Dziewicy Maryi – „The Virgin Mary’s Crown: A Bilingual Anthology of Medieval Polish Marian Poetry”
• Zofia Kossak – „The Polish Year”
• Danuta Kostewicz – „The Anatomy of a Moment: Poems”
• Wacław Kostrzewa – „The Sun Shone for Us”
• Wacław Kostrzewa – „Two Rivers”
• August Kowalczyk – „A Barbed Wire Refrain: An Adventure in the Shadow of the World
• Kruszewska Felicja – „A Dream i An Excursion to the Museum Tadeusza Różewicza”
• Kurek-Smolaga Emilia – „My Sad Continents: Memoir”
• Lach-Szyrma Krystian – „London Observed: A Polish Philosopher at Large 1822–24”
• Laks Szymon – „Music of Another World”
• Lanckorońska Karolina – „Those Who Trespass Against Us: One Woman’s War Against the Nazis”
• Lebioda Dariusz Tomasz – „Czarny jedwab. Black Silk”
• Lechoń Jan – „Evening on the Hudson: An Anthology of Jan Lechoń’s American Writings”
• Lem Stanisław – „A Perfect Vacuum”
• Lem Stanisław – „His Master’s Voice”
• Lem Stanisław – „Memoirs of a Space Traveler”
• Lem Stanisław – „Peace on Earth”
• Lem Stanisław – „Solaris”
• Lem Stanisław – „The Chain of Chance”
• Lem Stanisław – „The Cyberiad”
• Leśmian Bolesław – „Magic and Glory: Polish Poetry from the Twentieth Century”
• Libera Antoni – „Madame”
• Lipska Ewa – „White Strawberries”
• Lipska Ewa – „Pet Shops and Other Poems”
• Lipska Ewa – „The Holy Order of Tourists”
• Lipska Ewa – „The New Century”
• Malinowski Bronisław – „A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term”
• Marianowicz Antoni – „Life Strictly Forbidden”
• Masłowska Dorota – „A Couple of Poor Polish-speaking Romanians”
• Masłowska Dorota – „Snow White and Russian Red”
• Michnik Adam – „Confessions of a Converted Dissident”
• Mickiewicz Adam – „Dziady. Forefathers’ Eve: Dresden Text”
• Mickiewicz Adam – „Pan Tadeusz; or the Last Foray in Lithuania: A Tale of the Gentry during 1811–1812”
• Mieczkowski Zbigniew – „Horizons: Reflections of a Polish Emigre”
• Miłosz Czesław – „A Roadside Dog”
• Miłosz Czesław – „A Treatise on Poetry”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Czesław Miłosz: Conversations”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Legends of Modernity: Essays and Letters from Occupied Poland”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Milosz’s ABC’s”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Native Realm: A Search for Self-definition”
• Miłosz Czesław – „New and Collected Poems 1931–2001”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Notes”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Selected Poems”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Second Space: New Poems”
• Miłosz Czesław – „Selected Poems 1931–2004”
• Miłosz Czesław – „The Captive Mind”
• Miłosz Czesław – „The Issa Valley”
• Miłosz Czesław – „The Land of Ulro”
• Miłosz Czesław – „To Begin Where I Am: Selected Essays”
• Moskal Franciszek – „The Passions of an Optimist: My Life as an Emissary with the Polish Government-in-Exile in World War II”
• Mostowicz Arnold – „With a Yellow Star and a Red Cross: A Doctor in the Łódź Ghetto”
• Olczak-Ronikier Joanna – „In the Garden of Memory”
• Orzeszkowa Eliza – „Meir Ezofovitch”
• Pacak Dariusz – „The Seasons”
• Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska Maria – „Butterflies: Selected Poems”
• Peszkowski Zdzisław J – „Memoirs of a Prisoner of War in Kozielsk”
• Pilch Jerzy – „His Current Woman”
• Pilch Jerzy – „The Mighty Angel: A Novel”
• Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918: „Realism And Young Poland: An Anthology”
• Polish Literature from 1918 to 2000: „An Anthology”
• Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century: „A Bilingual Anthology”
• Polish Poetry from the Soviet Gulags: „Recovering a Lost Literature”
• Polish Romantic Literature: „An Anthology”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Polish Writers on Writing”
• Poświatowska Halina – „Indeed I Love”
• Poświatowska Halina – „Story for a Friend”
• Reszczyńska-Essigman Hanna – „Whims of Fate: History of a Polish Family in the Twentieth Century”
• Różewicz Tadeusz – „New Poems”
• Różewicz Tadeusz – „Reading the Apocalypse in Bed: Selected Plays and Short Pieces”
• Różewicz Tadeusz – „Recycling”
• Różewicz Tadeusz – „They Came to See a Poet”
• Różycki Tomasz – „The Forgotten Keys”
• Rutha Bogdan – „The Rat Palace”
• Sapkowski Andrzej – „Blood of Elves”
• Sapkowski Andrzej – „The Last Wish”
• Schulz Bruno – „New Documents and Interpretations”
• Schulz Bruno – „The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories”
• Segal Włodzimierz – „Podnóża gwiazd: wybór”
• Sienkiewicz Henryk – On the Field of Glory
• Sienkiewicz Henryk – Quo Vadis
• Sienkiewicz Henryk – The Knights of the Cross
• Sienkiewicz Henryk – The Teutonic Knights
• Sienkiewicz Henryk – Whirpools
• Six Polish Poets – Red – Jacek Dehnel
• Słowacki Juliusz – Poland’s Angry Romantic: Two Poems and a Play by Juliusz Słowacki
• Sommer Piotr – Continued
• Stanisławska-Birnberg Margo – 10 róż – 10 roses
• Staniszewski Andrzej – In my Amphitheatre: Multimedia Poem –
• Stasiuk Andrzej – Fado –
• Stasiuk Andrzej – Nine –
• Stasiuk Andrzej – Tales of Galicia
• Stasiuk Andrzej – White Raven
• Suchcicka Katarzyna – Selected Poems
• Świrszczyńska Anna – Mówię do swego ciała
• Szewc Piotr – Annihilation
• Szmaglewska Seweryna – Smoke over Birkenau
• Szpilman Władysław – The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw 1939–45
• Szuber Janusz – They Carry a Promise: Selected Poems
• Szymborska Wisława – Miracle Fair: Selected Poems
• Olczak-Ronikier Joanna – „In the Garden of Memory”
• Orzeszkowa Eliza – „Meir Ezofovitch”
• Pacak Dariusz – „The Seasons”
• Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska Maria – „Butterflies: Selected Poems”
• Peszkowski Zdzisław J. – „Memoirs of a Prisoner of War in Kozielsk”
• Pilch Jerzy – „His Current Woman”
• Pilch Jerzy – „The Mighty Angel: A Novel”
• Szymborska Wisława – „Monologue of a Dog”
• Szymborska Wisława – „Nonrequired Reading: Prose Pieces”
• Szymborska Wisława – „Poems New and Collected 1957–1997”
• Taborska Agnieszka – „The Dreaming Life of Leonora de la Cruz”
• Tepa Jerzy W. – „Fräulein Doktor”
• The Auschwitz Poems
• The Last Eyewitnesses: Children of the Holocaust Speak –
• Tkaczyszyn-Dycki Eugeniusz – „Peregrinary”
• Tochman Wojciech – „Like Eating a Stone”
• Tokarczuk Olga – „House of Day House of Night”
• Treasury of Polish Love Poems
• Tryzna Tomek – „Miss Nobody”
• Tulli Magdalena – „Dreams and Stones”
• Tulli Magdalena – „Flaw”
• Tulli Magdalena – „Moving Parts”
• Tryzna Tomek – „Miss Nobody”
• Twardowski Jan – „Serious Angel: A Selection of Poems”
• Twardowski Jan – „When You Say”
• Vogler Henryk – „Lessons in Fear”
• Warsitz Lutz – „The First Jet Pilot: The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz”
• Wat Aleksander – „My Century”
• Wiedemann Adam – „Doppelgänger”
• Wilk Mariusz – „The Journals of a White Sea Wolf”
• Winecka Krystyna – „The Girl in the Check Coat: Survival in Nazi-occupied Poland and a New Life in Australia”
• Wirtemberska Maria Anna – „Malvina or the Heart’s Intuition”
• Wiśniewski Janusz – „Loneliness on the Net”
• Wiszniewicz Joanna – „And Yet I Still Have Dreams: A Story of a Certain Loneliness”
• Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy – „Maciej Korbowa and Bellatrix”
• Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy – „Mr Price or Tropical Madness; and Metaphysics of a Two-headed Calf”
• Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy – „Seven Plays”
• Wittlin Józef – „Józef Wittlin and Modern Polish and Polish-American Poetry: a Commemorative Anthology”
• Wojciechowicz Danuta Halina – „Major Edward Wojciechowicz – Żołnierz 2 Korpusu Polskiego”
• Wojtyła Karol – „Roman Triptych”
• Wróblewski Grzegorz – „These Extraordinary People”
• Zagajewski Adam – „A Defense of Ardor”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Another Beauty”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Eternal Enemies”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Mysticism for Beginners”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Selected Poems”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Two Cities”
• Zagajewski Adam – „Without End: New and Selected Poems”
• Zanussi Krzysztof – „In Full Gallop and Six Other Screenplays”
• Zapolska Gabriela – „The Morality of Mrs – Dulska: a petty-bourgeois tragic-farce”
• Zapolska Gabriela – „Zapolska’s Women: Three Plays”
• Zawadzka Halina – „Living in Fear on the Aryan Side”
• Żeromski Stefan – „The Coming Spring”
• Żeromski Stefan – „The Faithful River”
• Ziemian Józef – „The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square”
• Ziółkowska-Boehm Aleksandra – „The Roots Are Polish”
• Żywulska Krystyna – „I Survived Auschwitz”

References:

• https://www.ejournals.eu/Przekladaniec/2010/Numer-24/art/1515/