Zuzanna Ginczanka - POLISH POETRY UNITES

Polish Poetry Unites is a video series complementing our Encounters with Polish Literature series for anyone interested in literature, poetry in particular, history, and reading. In each episode, Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences.
This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka, originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to American audiences, one of the most talented and independent Polish poets of the 20th century, whose feminist poetry has only recently been properly acknowledged.
Born in Kiev in 1917, Zuzanna Ginczanka, a great Polish Jewish poetess, whose work we have coved in a recent installment of our Encounters with Polish Literature video series (instytutpolski.pl/newyork/202..., was murdered by the Nazis in Kraków in 1944 at age 27, after more than two years spent in hiding.
Following the exploration of Ginczanka's poetry by Edward Hirsch the video showcases the biographical story of Lee Grant, Oscar winning actress and film director who is an admirer of Ginczanka's poetry. Lee who was born just a few years later than Ginczanka shares her life experience touching on issues of politics and antisemitism. At 98 Grant remains active and driven to make a positive impact on the world: the fascinating life that Ginczanka could have experienced if she had been born on this side of the Atlantic. The video ends with Lee reading Ginczanka's poem “Explenation in the Marigin” from the collection "Firebird" which was just published by the New York Review of Books. The poems were translated by Alissa Vales.
In the video Edward Hirsch says: Zuzanna Ginczanka is a wonderful person. Last year a biography was published in Poland and I very much hope it will be published here. There are three books coming out in English in the next few years so American readers are about to discover a really wonderful underrated poet. She was a Polish Jew, a Polish Jewish poet really, she was born in Ukraine, 1917. Part of the Russian empire, her family spoke Russian. She didn’t know any Yiddish. But, she loved Polish poetry and her friends spoke Polish. She decided that she wanted to be a Polish poet.
Moderator: Edward Hirsch
Director: Ewa Zadrzyńska
Cinematography: Daniel Marracino
Editor: Anna Jędrzejewska
Music: Cezary Skubiszewski
Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko
Learn more: instytutpolski.pl/newyork/202...

[@ansk6850]

Thank you.

[@jeannieelias9545]

Beautiful inspiring portrait of 2 remarkable women and a poem that will be forever etched in my soul.

[@maryguterson5508]

This was remarkable! Lee Grant made it so very palpable. The words of the poet nestled against a 97 (and a half) year-old Jewish woman defying age and conventions--how perfect this was! Thank you!

[@RhondaHayter]

How beautiful...in every regard. And I'm signing up for pilate's now.

[@AW-jt5vj]

Lovely film about a wonderful poet I hadn't heard of.