Joanna Czeczott in Banská Bystrica
Czeczott’s book Petersburg. The City of Dreams was published in Slovakia in 2025 by Absynt under the title Petrohrad. Mesto snov, translated by Juraj Koudela, the co-founder of the press. The Book Institute supported the publication through the ©Poland Translation Programme.
During the meeting the author recalled her student years in Russia, spoke about the “internal emigration” of St. Petersburg’s inhabitants, and about how she reached the indigenous people of the region. She explained to the Slovak audience why her book contains so many references to Anna Akhmatova, visible especially in the ninth chapter, which describes mothers visiting their sons in the Kresty prison. During the conversation she repeatedly addressed the issue of Russian colonialism. She pointed out that conquered lands were ruthlessly exploited and their populations decimated. These territories often became places of exile, which the author also writes about in her latest work, Silence over the Steppe: Kazakhstan and the Memory of Russia. Images of individuals’ helplessness in the face of imperial brutality are a recurring theme in Joanna Czeczott’s reportage.
The meeting was hosted by Gabriela Olchowa, a Polish language lecturer at Matej Bel University.
The Slovak audience warmly received the Polish reporter, who gladly signed autographs after the official part.
Photo gallery from the meeting
