Witold Szabłowski’s ‘Jak nakarmić dyktatora’ in Italian

In Italian, the title of Szabłowski’s reportage reads Come sfamare un dittatore. The book was published by the Italian publishing house Keller Editore.

How to Feed a Dictator is one of the most translated Polish books of recent years. Witold Szabłowski’s report is based on a great opening idea – it describes dictators (and dictatorships) through their eating habits. The author talked to chefs working for five tyrants – Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Enver Hoxha, and Fidel Castro – and found out directly from first-hand experience what these rulers were like, what they liked best and what special requirements they had when it came to food. Or could the chefs have influenced the ruling, following the proverbial principle “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”?

Witold Szabłowski is currently one of the most popular Polish writers translated into foreign languages. Dancing Bears and How to Feed a Dictator have so far been translated into French, Japanese, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, and English, among other languages – also thanks to the support received from the ©POLAND Translation Programme run by the Book Institute. In the United States, both books were published by the prestigious Penguin Random House publishing house. In addition, Szabłowski has sold the rights to a TV series adaptation of How to Feed a Dictator to the production company Free Assiociations, owned by actor Channing Tatum.