WARSAW — Russians are trying to publish Polish author Szczepan Twardoch’s bestselling novel The King and have even reportedly prepared a translation. It is a confusing development given that the writer has just been awarded for helping Ukraine.
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“A Russian from St. Petersburg wrote to me very kindly, stating that he had translated my King for his friends’ needs and would now like this translation to be published in Russia, because after all, wars end eventually,” Twardoch wrote on X.
The King is his most widely read novel. Since its publication in 2016, it has sold 300,000 copies, received numerous literary prizes and been turned into TV series (2020’s The King of Warsaw) produced by Canal+.
A Russian translation
The hero of The King is Jakub Szapiro, an undefeated boxer and gangster of Jewish origin, a dark star of interwar Warsaw. The action of the novel takes place on the eve of the outbreak of World War II in a capital city full of divisions.
Antisemitic propaganda is spreading in the country, the National Radical Camp (ONR) and other nationalist organizations are growing in strength, universities are introducing numerus clausus (limits on property rights), and right-wing newspapers are calling for the expulsion of Jews from Poland.
Szapiro commands the gang along with Kaplik (nicknamed Kum), a socialist with a patriotic past who supports Jews and workers in the fight against right-wing militias.
Twardoch began developing the idea for The King when he was collecting materials for his 2012 novel Morphine, which takes place in Warsaw during World War II. “The book was already being written. After 50 pages, I knew that I had to completely rebuild its concept, which I did. And the originally simple story was no longer so simple,” Twardoch said.
I replied that we would talk about translations when Russia no longer shoots at my friends.
Two years after the release of The King, Twardoch published its sequel, The Kingdom, which was a finalist for the Nike Literary Award in 2019. Twardoch is one of the most frequently translated Polish writers. The King has been published in Dutch (translated by Charlotte Pothuizen), Hungarian (translated by Gábor Körner), Czech (translated by Michala Benešová), English (translated by Sean Gasper Bye) and Italian (Franceski Annicchiarico), among other languages.
But the best-selling novel will not be published in Russian (at least for now), as Twardoch has refused to cooperate with the local market. “I replied that we would talk about translations when Russia no longer shoots at my friends with Iskanders, and all Russian soldiers leave Ukraine, either alive or dead, I hope with the considerable help of equipment from our collection. I still have time to buy it,” the writer said.
Helping Ukraine
Twardoch has been involved in helping Ukraine since the beginning of the war. In the first weeks after the invasion, he went to the border, transported people and found houses for them. He also helped the territorial defense unit of Ukraine. After a few weeks, he went to Ukraine, and he described his experiences in the war-torn country in the media, including in Gazeta Wyborcza, as well as on social media.
Twardoch also organizes collections for equipment for Ukrainian soldiers. Now you can support his collection of FPV drones and jammers (more than PLN 760,000 has already been donated).
I only used my literary recognition, credibility and personal energy to help direct the will to help.
On Aug. 24, during the celebration of Ukraine’s Independence Day at Castle Square in Warsaw, Twardoch — as well as the former First Lady of Poland Jolanta Kwaśniewska, war correspondent Monika Andruszewska and Mateusz Wodziński (who goes by the pseudonym Exen), the creator of the largest private aid campaign for Ukraine in Poland — won the Stand with Ukraine Award 2024, an award given by the Ukrainian community to Poles supporting Ukraine.
“This award is not for me, I only used my literary recognition, credibility and personal energy to help direct the will to help and financial resources of all those who donate their money to my collection. This award is for you and for my colleagues and all other Armed Forces of Ukraine soldiers who put the equipment purchased with your money to good use along the entire length of the front,” Twardoch wrote.
We will deliver
War correspondent Andruszewska was injured as a result of Russia’s Aug. 24 attack on a hotel in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. “My first personal blood shed for Ukraine — on Independence Day,” she posted on social media alongside two photos: one of a destroyed car and another of herself with a bloody hand.
The car that Andruszewska was using to collect testimonies of Russian crimes, evacuate Ukrainian civilians and transport dogs from shelters was bought with money from a collection organized by Twardoch. She noted that “the Republic of Poland does not show any excessive willingness to seriously support Monika’s diligent and important work.”
“The plan was to donate this car to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as soon as Poland comes to its senses, whether it will work remains to be seen, we will repair the car and it will go to the army one way or another, and we need to buy another one for Andruszewska and quickly, because the Polish state does not deliver here, we will deliver it,” Twardoch wrote.
