User:Michael werbowski

Tecia Werbowski, Polish-Canadian writer who has authored several short stories,novellas, plays, in addition to a children's book and a detective novel. Werbowski is the author of the highly acclaimed novella "Le Mur Entre Nous". Werbowski was born in Lwov, Poland and survived the war as a hidden child near Cracow. After the war her mother (who assumed the position of a cultural attaché in the Polish Embassy) took her to Prague where she spent her childhood.These formative years made a lasting impression on her, as she was allowed to play in the embassy’s garden which she found almost magical. She later describes it in her book “Prague Memories”.

In 1957 she returned to her beloved city as a student of Filosoficka Fakulta of the Charles University. She graduated in 1962. There she mingled with “bohemians” of Prague, students like Vera Chytilova, musicians etc. From 1962 until 1968 she was teaching English to the students of the Institute of Economics and Statistics in Warsaw.

In 1968 she came to Canada. She landed in Montreal, studied social work at McGill University and graduated with master’s degree in 1971. She worked as a social worker in the government agency until 1991. Later she was involved in international adoption and became a volunteer of CESO, travelling in Asia and Africa helping the poor. She found more time to devote herself to her favourite activity: writing, her second career. Her first attempts were rewarded. She received various prizes for her short fiction (a story:“ Prague revisited”, “Knots” etc.) Since then she wrote tirelessly about Prague of her childhood and her youth depicting the political climate and general atmosphere of that era.

Her most prominent work was “Le mur entre nous”, published in 1994 by a prestigious publishing house in France, Actes Sud. “Le mur” takes place in Prague as well. This work became a bestseller, was made into BBC play, and translated into Czech, Italian and German (kalliope paperbacks, 2014). It was adapted by Pavel Kohout and performed in Kolowrat Theatre by two outstanding actresses Mme C. Chramostovà and Burianovà. The play travelled to Vienna, Slovakia and several Czech cities. The Polish theatre television presented it in May 2005. In 2000, the publishing house in Prague GG Published her three novellas: “Prospany Zivot” was adapted by Tecia and Goldflam into a play for Mrs. Skorepova and presented again in Kolowrat theatre.

Tecia has written 17 books and six of them deal with political and moral dilemnas of the Czech reality before 1989 but also new challenges for the Czech citizens in the context of the new democratic order after 1989. The latter she describes in “Ich bin Prager” (dedicated to Milan Kundera) and “Prague Memories”. “Ich bin Prager” was chosen by FNAC in Paris as a favourite fiction of 2003 autumn literary season.

Tecia’s work was published by Actes Sud in France, Les Allusifs in Montreal and Guernica in Toronto. Her works appeared in French, English Italian and German, all of them critically acclaimed and applauded by critics and readers. Thanks to Tecia they were exposed to this small but fascinating and culturally alive country. Tecia is like a violinist who is playing the variations on the same theme: mystery and magic of Prague. Sylvie Germain admires her style and shares her attachment to this city. The critics and her reading audience believe that Tecia is the best Polish Canadian ambassador of the Czech culture abroad. She was awarded one of the Czech Republic's highest honors(the White Lion)for promoting Czech culture abroad during her lifetime.

Her first novel translated into German was "Oblomowa" ("L'Oblomova") published by edition winterwork in 2013.

In 2014 two novels followed published by kalliope paperbacks: "Hotel Polski" and "Die Wand zwischen uns" ("Le mur entre nous").

Eva, the protagnoist in "Hotel Polski", is married and has a harmonious relationship with her husband. They are fond of each other. Her children are healthy and normal. She is working at the university library and enjoys her work. A life perhaps too monotonous and too predictable? Yes, maybe. Until one day a letter addressed to her late mother heavily disturbes her self-awareness. She learns that her mother had been a Jew and that Joachim Riegel, a German, had saved her from the Nazis in 1943. Eva goes to Warsaw, where her mother and Joachim had met, to meet Joachim's son, Heinrich...

With this narration Tecia Werbowski gives the historical ›Hotel Polski Affair‹ a truthful and impressive timeliness.

In "Die Wand zwischen uns" Iréna Golebiowska learns that the renowned author Zofia Lass has betrayed her mother. She wants to confront her and to blow the cover. She follows every step of Zofia Lass and finally traces her down in Prague. But Iréna's obsessive revenge gets out of hand.

This narrative, a tightrope walk between guilt and atonement, impresses precisely due to its reduction. It pointedly discusses the dealing with political and personal history in the era of its media exploitation and generates a debate over a moral dilemma that gets under your skin.

List of published books by Tecia Werbowski: Zina and Other Stories (Williams and Wallace, Toronto, 1992)

Bittersweet Taste of Maple (Williams and Wallace, Toronto, 1994)

Le mur entre nous (Actes Sud, 1995, reedition Les Allusifs, 2008)

L’Oblomova (Actes Sud, 1997, reedition Les Allusifs, 2008)

Hôtel Polski (from Hotel Polski, unpublished English original, translated into French by Christine Le Boeuf, Actes Sud, 1999, reedition Les Allusifs, 2008)

Zegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-45, together with Irene Tomaszewski (Price-Patterson 1999, reedition under the title Code Name: Zegota: Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe, Praeger Frederick, 2010)

Prague hier et toujours (Les Allusifs, 2001)

Amour anonyme (Les Allusifs, 2002)

Ich bin Prager (Les Allusifs, 2003)

Minou à Prague (Éditions du Lilas, 2003)

Prague Memories (Guernica, 2004)

Entre espoir et nostalgie (Les Allusifs, 2009)

Rêveries pragoises (Metropolis, 2009)

Not a love story (Metropolis, 2009, reedition under the title Loveless Duet)

Chambre 26 (Les Allusifs, 2010)

Franz Schubert Express (Notabilia, 2013)

Oblomowa (from L'Oblomova translated into German by Barbara Schaefer, edition winterwork, 2013)

Die Wand zwischen uns (from Le mur entre nous translated into German by Juliane Graebener-Mueller, kalliope paperbacks, 2014)

Hotel Polski (from Hotel Polski, unpublished English original, translated into German by Barbara Schaefer, kalliope paperbacks, 2014)

Loveless Duet was translated into German, and will be published in August 2015 under the title Etwas Felt (Hoffmann und Campe)