Janina Katz

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Janina Katz (born March 2, 1939 in Krakow , Poland ; † October 18, 2013 in Copenhagen , Denmark ) was a Danish writer , translator and poet .

Life

Janina Katz was born as the daughter of Polish Jews who came from Dobczyce . When the Second World War broke out , she was hidden with a befriended Catholic family. During the war she lost almost her entire family. Many were murdered in the Plaszow concentration camp . Her mother survived the war, and it was only after they got to know each other that Katz discovered that she was actually Jewish. After graduating from high school, she studied Polish literature and sociology at the Jagiellonian University . With the outbreak of the Six Day War , an anti-Semitic mood developed in Poland, which led to Katz leaving the country with her mother in 1969. After a year in Germany , she moved on to Denmark. She found work as a literary critic and translator from Polish literature into Danish. She also worked in the Danish Royal Library for 13 years .

She made her debut as a writer 22 years after leaving her homeland. At the age of 52 she published the volume of poetry Min moders datter . Despite being a Polish mother tongue, she wrote almost exclusively in Danish and was nominated and awarded several literary prizes. In 1998 she was awarded the Beatrice Prize . For her two novels Drengen fra dengang and Længsel på bestilling she was nominated for the DR Novel Prize. For the former, she also received a 50,000 Danish Krone nomination for the Danske Bank Literature Prize . In 2012, she received a nomination for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize for her poetry collection Skrevet på polsk .

Katz has translated four prose and poetry works by Zbigniew Herbert , four collections of poetry by Ewa Lipska and two collections of poetry by Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska into Danish. She has also translated works by Czesław Miłosz , Tadeusz Różewicz , Sławomir Mrożek , Tadeusz Konwicki and Kazimierz Brandys .

On October 18, 2013, Katz died after a short illness at the age of 74 in Copenhagen.

Works (selection)

Poetry collections
  • Min moders datter (1991)
  • I with drømmeland (1993)
  • Scener fra det virkelige liv (1995)
  • Varme Steder (1999)
  • Det syvende barn (2002)
  • Landskabet det blev væk (2004)
  • Min Spaltede Tunge (2006)
  • Tilbage til æblerne (2010)
  • Skrevet på polsk (2011)
  • Endnu ikke allerede (2013)
Novels
  • With liv som barbar (1993)
  • Putska (1997)
  • Fortællinger til Abram (2001)
  • Drengen fra dengang (2005)
  • Længsel på bestilling (2009)
Short stories
  • Heltens tykke kone and other historie (1994)
  • Den glade jødinde and other historier (1998)
Children's book
  • With liv som syfiluter (2001)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Katz, Janina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish writer, translator and poet
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow , Poland
DATE OF DEATH 18th October 2013
Place of death Copenhagen , Denmark