Odra

Odra monthly magazine, founded in 1961 in Wrocław, has been a leading Polish sociocultural periodical for several decades, an important forum for debates on current affairs in Poland and internationally, a place for discussion and polemics, in which the most outstanding Polish and foreign scholars, writers, artists and journalists take part. It is jointly published by the Book Institute and the Centre for Culture and Art in Wrocław.

For years, the most important writers of post-war Poland published their poems, short stories, reportage and philosophy in Odra: Wrocław locals Jerzy Grotowski, Tadeusz Różewicz and Urszula Kozioł, as well as Stanisław Lem, Wisława Szymborska, Czesław Miłosz, Zbigniew Herbert, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Ryszard Kapuściński, Hanna Krall, Józef Hen and Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz.

Odra remains a keen observer and commentator on the changing social reality in Poland, Europe and the world, addressing vital trends and events in culture, sociology, philosophy and politics. Every issue contains several sets of poems by Polish and foreign authors, and prose as well. Regular contributors include Jerzy Surdykowski, Marek Zybura, Marek Orzechowski, Renata Głowacka, Patrycja Cembrzyńska, Krystyna Kuczyńska, Maciej Dymkowski and Henryk Grynberg, while current theatre, film and literary columns are written by Karol Maliszewski, Marcin Adamczak, Jacek Sieradzki, Wiesław Saniewski, Jan Topolski, Radosław Wiśniewski and Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki.

In Odra’s large reviews section, the latest domestic and foreign literary releases are described and rated every month, alongside visual arts and music events. Every issue has a supplement called ‘8 Arkusz’, edited autonomously by the magazine’s younger contributors. It looks at the latest tendencies in literature and art and promotes the work of emerging artists and writers.

The magazine’s editor-in-chief is Mariusz Urbanek.