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Poet Zagajewski wins Leopold Lucas Prize

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 10.05.2016 12:01
Polish poet and writer Adam Zagajewski has been revealed as the winner of the 2016 Leopold Lucas Prize, one of Germany's most prestigious awards for humanists.
Adam Zagajewski, archival picture at Polish Radio. Photo: PR/Andrzej BołdaniukAdam Zagajewski, archival picture at Polish Radio. Photo: PR/Andrzej Bołdaniuk

The prize, which is awarded by the University of Tubingen, is presented to figures who have made outstanding achievements in promoting tolerance and understanding between people and nations.

It likewise honours those who have made their mark in the fields of philosophy, theology or the history of ideas.

The award is named after German rabbi and academic Leopold Lucas (1872-1943) who died in the Nazi German concentration camp of Theresienstadt.

Adam Zagajewski was born in 1945 in Lwów (now the western Ukrainian city of Lviv), but his family was resettled shortly afterwards, with Poland's borders redrawn in the wake of World War II. An opponent of the communist government, he emigrated to France in 1982.

He returned to Poland in 2002, settling in Kraków, where he had studied philosophy and psychology as a young man.

Several volumes of his poetry and essays have been translated into German, among other languages.

Zagajewski is due to be presented with the award, which includes a cheque for EUR 50,000, in Tubingen on 31 May. (nh)

Source: IAR

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