This summer you published a work by Martin Šmaus in translation: Děvčátko, rozdělej ohníček (Make a Little Fire, Lass) and you invited the author to the recent Good Book Fair in Wroclaw. What were your impressions?
He’s a very likable person. He has an interesting, philosophical view of the world. He’s analytical and maintains a certain detachment, but he has put his entire heart into his book, which is full of emotion.
Šmaus has been translated into Polish by Dorota Dobrew. Are you going to carry on working together with her?
She is translating a book Zatím dobrý (Good So Far) by Jan Novák, which comes out next autumn. It is faction, which the Poles will like a lot.
How do you decide which Czech books to publish in Polish?
We have a look around ourselves. Sometimes we are given tips by the translators, who have a nose for what might catch on. Czech literary agents Dana Blatná and Edgar de Bruin send us lots of offers. But not everything that they recommend can be translated and published. First we have to know that the title will sell in Poland. Not every title that does well in the Czech Republic is going to be successful here. We mostly choose books on the basis of whether they have something the Poles will be familiar with, or whether they are too Czech, e.g. like Hrabal’s works.
How are our current authors doing in your country?
The great majority of them are entirely unknown. When we decide to publish one of their books, we have to do a lot to promote it and present it to the Poles on a plate, right under their noses. We managed to do this with Jarka Rudiš, who is very communicative, which the Poles respond to. He was born near the Polish border, in Lomnice nad Popelkou, he understands Polish and has written about Poland.
After some rather disappointing experiences, in future we would only like to publish one contemporary Czech author a year. For example, we have designs on Jiří Hájíček and Martin Ryšavý. But we are placing our hopes of commercial success more in previously untranslated works by Čapek, Škvorecký and other well-established authors.
Czech female writers in particular sell badly in Poland. The Poles don’t like women who write. At best female authors who write similar books to those of Halina Pawlowská sell well, but we would like to publish more “highbrow” literature. As yet we have not found a Czech Olga Tokarczukova. If there is one then she ought to give us a call!
What about Kateřina Tučková?
Katka might catch on here. She visited Wroclaw as part of the summer international Month of Authors’ Readings, and she said that for Žítkovské bohyně she was using information from a special witchcraft archive in Poznan. I think that would work well in this country. Another Wroclaw publishing house is already working on the translation.
The reportage school is popular in Poland. Do you not find anything similar in the Czech Republic?
Something of that kind is missing from the Czech Republic, though Žítkovské bohyně comes close. We want to publish Karel Čapek’s conversations with T. G. Masaryk. We have also been impressed by Slečna Barbora Baronová and Dita Pepe.
Which Czech writer is most successful in Poland?
Miroslav Žamboch! Not a lot of people know that. Fabryka Słów publishers have brought out about twenty of his books in Polish. At the Polcon meeting for sci-fi and fantasy fans, where we were selling his books, there was a queue of about 150 people. We had to wait an hour and a half for all the books to get signed and then we had to close the stall down because they were all sold out.
Apart from Czeskie Klimaty you also run Slowackie and Grecke Klimaty. Which of these three is the workhorse?
Czeskie Klimaty for sure. This is logical because we share a similar language, we have the longest border with the Czech Republic and Wroclaw, where we are based, is in Silesia, where we can hear your radio and television stations. We are close to each other.
How is Slowackie Klimaty doing?
The problem with Slovakia is that it does not have the kind of symbols that you have. They don’t have their Hrabal, Škvorecký, Havel or Kundera. And by the way, some Poles think the Tatras are in the Czech Republic… It’s a pity because there are several very interesting writers in Slovakia, e.g. Pavol Rankov – his Stalo se prvního září (It Happened on September 1st) is our most popular Slovak title. And then there is Petr Krištůfek, Pavel Vilikovský and others.
And Grecke Klimaty?
That is more of an experiment. As far as Greece is concerned, the Poles think of mythology, holidays and the crisis. But we do also know of several interesting authors that we would like to present to Polish readers.
Are you planning to expand further into other national spheres?
We would like to establish a Hungarian Klimaty. Historically, we are closer to the Hungarians than to the Czechs. Ever since the Middle Ages we have had a saying: Poles and Magyars are brothers both with the sabre and the glass. This expresses the historical friendship between both nations. But so far we haven’t figured out what characterizes them for the Poles and what kind of logo they should have. Inclusion of the Hungarian brand is logical if we receive long-term aid from the Visegrad Fund.
Can you speak Czech well? How long have you been learning?
For about a year and a half, though I can only handle standard Czech and I don’t have the right accent. My teacher told me that I learn most from Nohavica, But a and other bands. I don’t think Czech is difficult for Poles or vice versa. And some Poles read your books in the original. We sell a few of them.
How did you get into the Czech language?
My grandfather was one of those Poles who used to live before the war in what is now Byelarus. After the war they were sent to an area that had previously been part of Germany, so he made his way to Zittau on the Polish-German-Czech border. I used to visit him every holiday and that is where I first heard Czech, amongst other things thanks to the children’s programme Večerníček.
And how did you get into Czech literature and its publication?
After finishing college I worked at a large legal publishers in Warsaw and from time to time I used to visit Liberec for a bit of skiing and then the swimming pool and fried cheese. So I popped into this bookshop and was immediately taken by the Czech books there. So then a friend and I set up a publishers and based it very much on national brands – each nation has its favourites and in the case of the Poles there are the Czechs and the Slovaks. Hence Czeskie a Slowackie Klimaty.
How many of you are there in your company?
Three people make up the core and we have other co-workers for the markets or special events. We have found they work well, they sell books successfully and they enjoy the work. We have one Czech, Markéta Pěluchová, on an attachment. Markéta helps us out a lot on the project for training Polish book discussion clubs, which we are putting a lot of effort into at the moment. The clubs are run by the Polish libraries. Every month we head out somewhere and speak with the moderators about Czech or Slovak books. Direct contact with readers and library staff is very satisfying but demanding. We have now lectured to two hundred people and I think next year there will be thousands of them.
What do you have of interest for us in future?
We would like to get into tourism and perhaps publish a book on folk music. The former is necessarily associated with a particular location, so a subject that combines tourism and culture strikes me as appropriate. Next year we would like to have a Czech or Slovak band at the markets in Wroclaw station. I see great potential in various arts providing support for each other. It would be fantastic if Nohavica, for example, played for us at the Warsaw stadium where the biggest Polish book fair takes place.
Interviewed by Jaroslav Balvín
About the publisher
Marcin Skrabka was born in 1978. He studied law and now runs Czeskie, Slowackie a Grecke Klimaty. He also offers a course for future editors and media workers at the Wroclaw University Faculty of Arts.