The 2025 residency program is dedicated to Polish authors. In response to the open call for participation in the program, we received an impressive 71 applications. Two people were selected to participate in the residency:
AGNIESZKA JELONEK
EDMUND KREMPIŃSKI
Congratulations!
Statement from the selection committee: This year's selection was an extremely fascinating but also difficult task. We received an incredibly diverse range of applications. They came from all over Poland, from small and large cities, from people with great achievements in other areas of art as well as those yet to make their debut. We had the opportunity to read texts intersecting at various thematic, formal, and stylistic levels, representing various social and ethnic minorities or people with disabilities. Most of the candidates mentioned how important it was for them to have the opportunity to work with an experienced mentor and present excerpts from their texts at an international theater festival. We are very pleased that the residency format so well suited the needs of those who are beginning their journey into dramatic writing. We wish all participants the best of luck in their career development and encourage them to continue writing.
The jury consisted of Miroslav Hristov (Goethe-Institut Bulgaria), Krystyna Mogilnicka (Instytut Teatralny Zbigniewa Raszewskiego) and Ewa Zembok (Rekultur).
AGNIESZKA JELONEK (1976) is a writer, screenwriter and playwright.
She graduated from interdisciplinary individual studies in the humanities at the University of Warsaw. In 2006, she completed postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science at the University of Warsaw, where she attended courses in reportage, short stories, and dramatic writing. She participated in the Sztuka Dialogu nad Wigrami theater workshop (led by Tadeusz Słobodzianek) and collaborated with the Warsaw Drama Laboratory as a producer of performances. In 2007, she completed her studies in screenwriting at the L. Schiller National Film, Television and Theater School in Łódź. She collaborated with the Survation Foundation and worked as a Polish language teacher for refugees. She has published in the newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza and Zwierciadle, writing reports on women's work (including Maria Marevna, Gertrude Stein, and the story of Kiki de Montparnasse). She has contributed to television series (Brzydula, Na Wspólnej, Singielka). In 2015, she won first prize in the third annual Henryk Bereza Literary Competition and made her debut with a collection of short stories entitled Babidło. For her debut novel Koniec świata umyj okna (Cyranka Publishing House, 2020) about panic attacks, she was nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award 2020 and won the Literary Award of the City of Radom. In 2022, she published the novel Trzeba być cicho (Cyranka Publishing House) - for which she was again nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award. In 2024, she published the novel West Farragut Avenue (Cyranka Publishing House). The novel is listed in the New Books from Poland 2024 catalog, published by the Book Institute, where you can read an excerpt in English. In 2024, she wrote the play Norman Freeman, which was a finalist for the Tadeusz Różewicz Drama Award and the Bydgoszcz City Drama Award, Aurora 2004. The play was published in an anthology of Aurora finalists' plays in Polish and English and will be published in the monthly magazine Dialog (No. 4/2025).
EDMUND KREMPIŃSKI (1998) is a transgender artist, actor, and visual artist from Łódź. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Krakow. In April 2023, he became the first openly transgender actor employed by a Polish repertory theater (the Kazimierz Dejmek New Theater in Łódź). He is the winner of the art critics' award in the 14th annual competition for the best diploma.
Mentoring support is provided by Patrik Boušek and Ondřej Novotný.
The 2025 edition is organized in cooperation with the Kutná Hora International Theater Festival, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Instytut Teatralny Zbigniewa Raszewskiego in Warsaw, Polish Institute Prague, and with the support of the city of Kutná Hora.
