Jacek Dehnel

Jacek Dehnel, born in 1980, is a poet, novelist and translator. In 2005 he was one of the youngest winners of the Kościelski Prize for promising new writers. As well as translating many great poets from English into Polish, he has published four volumes of his own poetry, which have also appeared in several leading Polish periodicals and been translated into several European languages.

Jacek’s debut novel Lala has been translated into English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, an award-winning translator of Polish literature. Set against the backdrop of major European historical events, Lala is the portrait of a dazzling female figure, a wide-ranging family saga and the story of the tender friendship between grandson and grandmother. When her grandson is listening, there is nothing Lala likes better than to tell stories. Based on detailed historical research and family stories, this is a novel rich in intimate details and gentle humour.

With beautiful prose and autobiographical elements strung together delicately to tell the story of the author’s family, Jacek’s Lala is a multi-generational saga of ancestry, war and history.