English biography

Professional Profile

I am a radio journalist, a poet, a novelist and a playwright with a PhD in Russian Philosophy from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. I am the host of a podcast of artistic audio forms titled Journal of Changes. I debuted in 2001 with a volume of short stories Baroness Late Autumn, after which I published another collection of short stories There’s No Monoin 2007. Since 2001, I have also written a series of poems (Things That Have Transpired, 2001) and novels (Fronasz,2012; The Cosmos in the Ritz, 2014; In the Mantle of the World, 2017). Slightlyaside from the mainstream contemporary Polish writers, I have forged my literary presence with works that reflect my vast interests in forms of consciousness and mechanisms of memory I also explore the capacities of narrative fiction to represent states of the mind and spiritual experience in order to challenge and refresh oldworld’sconception of what it means to be aware of the own human self. Partially, it my susceptibility to the extended mind (consciousness experienced outside the body) that makes me move the conventionally plot-oriented fiction to the realm of dreams, of the improbable, or the paranormal, which are characteristic of the mysterious and inexplicable nature of existence. In my other texts, I assume a female perspective, as for instance in The Queen of Rhubarb(2004) or  inA Former Tsar’s Nine Moments of Spring (2015).

Achievements

2023 

 

  • The „cat” mini-documentary in the final of the competition for an audio miniature inspired by the work of the Polish Nobel Prize winner was organised by the Audionomy Foundation and the Wisława Szymborska Foundation. https://audionomia.pl/znamy-finalistow-konkursu-na-miniature-dzwiekowa-inspirowana-tworczoscia-wislawy-szymborskiej/
  • Cooperation with the „Mountains of Literature” festival organized by the Olga Tokarczuk Foundation in Nowa Ruda. Interview with Edward Pasewicz about Pulverkopf, and conducting a creative writing module) – https://fundacjaolgitokarczuk.org/festiwal-gory-literatury/2023/
  • An invitation to The 49th International Feature Conference in Reykiavik, as co-author of an audio story entitled Melody of Changes, produced for Polskie Radio Białystok – as a guest of panel discussion abou audio art and war in Ukraine. https://ifc2.wordpress.com/ifc23/
  • The episode of the podcast entitled „What’s the laugh for” has been qualified for the LABA Festival | Tarnowskie Góry, as part of the exhibition 22/07 l 20:00 l Art Gallery „Inny Śląsk” l VERSION: Exhibition „Doors Closed”
  • cooperation with the online Radio Danielka – sound columns that are reflections on the poetry of a gray day (based on the podcast – Dziennik Zmian) https://radiodanielka.pl/dziennik-zmian

2022

2021

2020

  • one of my short stories  „State of Trepidation „(translated by Urszula Humienik-Dworakowska) can be found in the” Versopolis „Review, which collects 15 stories about the poetic and problematic customs of just as many European nations. European Reliquary  Selected Texts About European Customs  https://www.versopolis.com/multimedia/ebook/1043/european-reliquary
  • three-month scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage – „online culture” – supporting the development of my artistic podcast channel „Dziennik Zmian”  (Journal od Changes)  https://anchor.fm/milkamalzahn
  • mini-broadcast entitled „Witkacy wrote me a letter?” was appreciated by the Słupsk Society for Theater Culture – Rondo Theater during 23. The International Competition for the Interpretation of the Works of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz in Słupsk – http://witkacy.art.pl/

2019

https://www.polskieradio.pl/7/1579/Artykul/2240169,Znamy-laureatow-konkursu-Moja-niepodleglosc

  • „Beautiful dreams” story, translated by Kamila Walker, publicity: Beautiful dreams of Miłka O. Malzahn Translated by Kamila Walker, Walker, Kamila. „Contemporary Polish short stories in English.” AALITRA Review: Literary Translation Book 13 (December 2018): 85-101.

PDF here: https://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/AALITRA/index

 2018

  • A distinction for the Tkacze short story during the Siegfred Lenz International Literary Competition in Ełk, Poland.

 2017 

  • Reading of a fragment of the W płaszczu świata novel at the 13thInternational Short Story Festival in Wroclaw, Poland.

 2015

The premiereof the Corridor, drama based on my play which wins the Mirror Picture IllusionNational Dramatic Competitionin Łódź – the Municipal Theatre in Inowrocław, Poland.

 2010 – A public reading of the Corridor drama, the BiałysztukFestival in Białystok, Poland.

2010 – A Weekend of Literature in Edith Stein’s House, the 5th Edition, Wroclaw, Poland.

 2009 – The 15th Toruń Festival of the Books (XV Toruński Festiwal Książki), Toruń, Poland.

2007 – The 3rdArt of StorytellingFestival (III Festiwal Sztuka Opowiadania), Wroclaw, Poland.

 2001 – The Gallery of Vision (a series of events combining photography and poetry;the first step to organize the May Poetic BoomFestival(Majowy Buum Poetycki) that is still organized) Toruń, Poland

Education

 2014         PhD in Russian Philosophy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland; Dissertation Title: The Crisis of Art and Culture. Selected Problems of Nicholas Berdyaev Philosophy

1997         MA inPhilosophy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland

1992         Theatre ArtsInstructor Diploma at the Higher Vocational School in Ciechanów

Art Projects

2022 – ? author of audio columns in the online Radio Danielka (based on the podcast – Journal of Change) https://radiodanielka.pl/dziennik-zmian

2022-2023 – author of audio columns in the online Radio Klang https://radioklang.pl/dziennik-zmian

2020 – ? – author of artistic radio (audio) forms, in podcast channel – A journal of changes  (Dziennik Zmian). Each episodes – max 12 minutes long; Esseyes about changes in people and places in nowedays, in poetic narration. I make kind of 'sound poetry’ – poetry of sound (not music!). Podcast was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture as part of the project – online culture. The podcast has been in the finals of the Podcaster of the Year competition – in 2021 and 2022   https://anchor.fm/milkamalzahn

2019    Invitation to project – New Dramaturgy Scene at the Teatr im. W. Siemaszkowa in Rzeszów – a platform focused on contemporary methods of creating theater stories; Curators: director Martyna Łyko and Witold Mrozek – theater critic and journalist. 

https://teatr-rzeszow.pl/article/teatralny-speed-dating?l=2

2018        A guest in the 23rdepisode of the Kronos TV –a program about philosophy; Subject: Women -Their Powers, Hopes and Needs;

                     http://vod.tvp.pl/video/kronos,odc-23,40139221

2018        A host at 9thZebraneFestival inBialystok;

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKqigWtjPNs

2015        A writer of scenariosfor cultural events, a master of ceremony and a host of a meeting with Salla Simukka, a Finnish writer (organized by the BiałystokCentre of Culture, the Foksal Publishing Group and the Embassy of Finland);

http://bok.bialystok.pl/en/events/event/salla-simukka-finnish-author-of-best-selling-crime-novels-for-young-people

2015         A host at 9thZebrane Festival in Bialystok;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI2mPRQ24QY

2013         A translator of some early achievementsbyNikolaiBerdyaev, a Russian philosopher  (Kronos, 3/2013);

                 http://uwb.academia.edu/Mi%C5%82kaMalzahn

Books:

2020 – publication of the short story in a collection titled „2020. An Anthology of Contemporary Polish Stories  by Forma http://www.wforma.eu/2020-antologia-wspolczesnych-polskich-opowiadan.html

2017 –   W płaszczu świata (In the Mantle of the World)­– a micro-novel; Książnica Podlaska;https://www.milkamalzahn.pl/w-plaszczu-swiata

2015 –   Dziewięć mgnień wiosnybylegocara(A Former Tsar’s Nine Moments of Spring) – a novel; Biała Wieża; https://www.milkamalzahn.pl/9-mgnien-wiosny-bylego-cara

2014 –   Kosmosw Ritzu (TheCosmos at the Ritz)– a novel; Forma;http://wforma.eu/kosmos-w-ritzu.html

2012 –   Fronasz (Fronasz) – a novel;Forma; http://www.wforma.eu/42,fronasz.html

2007 –   Nie ma mono – Opowiadania są (There’s No Mono – There Are Short Stories) – a collection of short stories; Fa‑art; https://www.milkamalzahn.pl/mono

2004 –   Królowa rabarbaru (The Queen of Rhubarb)– a novel; Fa‑art; https://www.milkamalzahn.pl/krolowa-rabarbaru

2001 –   Baronowa Późna Jesień (Baroness Late Autumn) – a collection of short stories; Homini; http://www.bookinstitute.pl/ksiazki-detal,literatura-polska,6084,baroness-late-autumn.html

2001 –   Rzeczy wydarzone (Things That Have Transpired) – a collection of poems; WOAK Toruń

                          Articles in Art Journals and Anthologies (Last Six Years):

2018 –   Piękne sny (Beautiful Dreams) – a collection of short stories; to be published in the December 2018 issue of The AALITRA Review by Dr Kamila Walker, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

2018 –   Fronasz i Martyniec (Fronasz and Martyniec) – a short story; the Fa‑artquarterly, (107‑110) 1‑4/2017; http://www.fa-art.pl/kwartalnik-fa-art/item/570-kwartalnik-fa-art-nr-1-4-107-110-2017

2018 –   Uciec od zgiełku do… Ełku (To Run Away from All That Fuss to… the City of Ełk) – aseries of traveller’s essays; the Podlaski Senior website; http://podlaskisenior.pl/uciec-od-zgielku-do-elku

2017 –   Twoja grawitacja (Your Gravitation) – a short story; [in] 2017. Antologia współczesnych polskich opowiadań (The 2017 Anthology of Contemporary Polish Short Stories); Forma; http://www.wforma.eu/2017-antologia-wspolczesnych-polskich-opowiadan.html

2017 –   Spotkanie (The Meetiong) – a short story; the Helikopter magazine, 10/2017;http://opt-art.net/helikopter/10-2017/miloslawa-malzahn-spotkanie

2017 –   Slowstany (The Slow States) – a short story; the ZNAKmonthly, (745) 6/2017; http://www.miesiecznik.znak.com.pl/745-spis-tresci

2016 –   Dziennikarz i kwantowy żywioł (The Journalist and the Quantum Elements) – an essay; the Helikopter magazine, 12/2016; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/12-2016/milka-malzahn-dziennikarz-i-kwantowy-zywiol

2016 –   Papierówki(The White Transparent)– a short story; the Helikopter magazine, 6/2016; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/6-2016/milka-malzahn-papierowki-fragment

2015 –    Pierwszy stos (The First Stake) –a short story; the Helikopter magazine, 12/2015; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/12-2015/milka-o-malzahn-pierwszy-stos

2014 –   Projekt Mężczyzna (Project Man) – a short story; http://opowiadanie.org/eng-info/no-one-ever-the-anthology

2014 –   Spotkałam panią Dalloway i… (I Met Mrs Dalloway and…) – an essay; the eleWatorquarterly, (8) 2/2014; http://www.elewator.org/archiwum/nr-8-22014-kwiecienczerwiec

2014 –   Aparat Cortázara (Cortázar’s Camera) – an essay; the eleWatorquarterly, (7) 1/2014; http://www.elewator.org/archiwum/nr-7-12014-styczenmarzec

2014 –   Eine Schere für den Herrn aus Papier (Scissors for Men of Paper) – a short story (translated into German by Bernhard Hartmann); [in] Jahrbuch Polen 2014: Männer (Yearbook Poland 2014: Men); Harrassowitz Verlag; https://www.deutsches-polen-institut.de/publikationen/jahrbuch-polen/jahrbuch-polen-2014

2013 –   Chronosoterapia (Chronosotherapy)– an essay; the Fabularie quarterly, (1) 1/2013; https://issuu.com/fabularie/docs/fabularie-nr1-issuu

2013 –   Punkt obserwacyjny(The Ovservation Point) – a short story; the Helikopter magazine, 10/2013; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/10-2013/milka-o-malzahn-punkt-obserwacyjny

2013 –   Poszukuję krajobrazu(I Am Searching for a Landscape) – a Lublin.rmxe-book; Warsztaty Kultury

2013 –   Sezon na sardynki(The Season for Sardines) – a short story; the Helikopter magazine, 12/2012, 1/2013; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/12-2012/milka-o-malzahn-sezon-na-sardynki-1; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/1-2013/milka-o-malzahn-sezon-na-sardynki-2

2012 –   Kamieniołom (The Quarry), Pozdrowienia z cienia (Greetings from the Shadow) – short stories; the Helikopter magazine 6/2012; http://opt-art.net/helikopter/6-2012/milka-o-malzahn-proza

2011 –   Starcy w Ritzu (Greybeards in the Ritz) – a short story; [in] 2011. Antologia współczesnych polskich opowiadań (The 2011 Anthology of Contemporary Polish Short Stories); Forma;http://www.wforma.eu/206,2011.-antologia-wspolczesnych-polskich-opowiadan.html

https://uwb.academia.edu/Mi%C5%82kaMalzahn

Scholarships

 2015 – A scholarship by the Marshal of Podlasie: half a year to write the White Transparent short story.

 2014 – A scholarship by the City of Toruńto prepare a mini-radio play and to create an active website for the novel: The Queen of Rhubarb.

 2007 – A scholarship by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to write the Fronasz novel.

Music

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/milka-malzahn

2015        Dis Cover – Donna Regina; as Recorded by [Various Artists], an internationalmusic project;

http://karaokekalk.bandcamp.com/track/lets-get-slow-wolniej-b-d-version-by-mi-ka

2005        Sequel (Gusstaff Rec); modern electronic music

2003        Mapa (OffMusic  Rec); trip hop sung poetry

She is a poet, prose writer and playwright, lyricist and vocalist, theater instructor (graduated in 1992 in Ciechanow), philosopher ( PhD in Russian philosophy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun in 2013) ;

Since 1992 she works as a journalist in Polish media; now- in the Department of Polish Radio In Bialystok

Since 2016 she cooperate with the University of Bialystok as a lecturer

 NOVELS

  • 2001 Baroness Late Autumn (2001) short story collections

http://www.bookinstitute.pl/ksiazki-detal,literatura-polska,6084,baroness-late-autumn.html

PUBLICATIONS IN ART  JOURNALS AND ANTHOLOGIST (last 5 years):

  • 2016 „Papierówki”  –  short story about idea of Slow Life – in  Helicopter 8/2016 
  • 2014 Project Man/ projekt mężczyzna http://opowiadanie.org/eng-info/no-one-ever-the-anthology/
  • 2014 „Spotkałam panią Dalloway i…” – eleWator 8 (2/2014)
  • 2014 „Aparat Cortazara”, eleWator. kwartalnik literacko – kulturalny nr 7 (1/2014).
  • 2014 „Nożyczki” in German lanquage: ”Eine Schere fur den Herrn aus papier” INHALT Jahrbuch Polen 2014 Manner s 219 – 226 (tłum Bernhard Hartmann)http://www.deutsches-polen-institut.de/publikationen/jahrbuch-polen/jahrbuch-polen-2014
  • 2013 „Chronosoterapia”– Fabularie, str. 46-48. Kultura: stan najnowszy, Bydgoszcz, Karnowski, 1 (1) 2013
  • 2013 „Punkt obserwacyjny”– OPT Helikopter, 10, 2013.
  • 2013 „Poszukuję krajobrazu” – e-book Lublin.rmx , wyd. Warsztaty Kultury, Lublin,
  • 2013 „Sezon na sardynki” – OPT Helikoper 2013.
  • 2012 ”Pozdrowienia z cienia”, „Kamieniołom”, „Po śnie” opowiadania – OPT Helikoper, czerwiec 2012.
  • 2011 „Starcy w Ritzu” in anthology – „2011. Antologia współczesnych polskich opowiadań”, P. Nowakowski, A. Sroka, (red.), wyd. Forma, Szczecin

MUSIC 

  • 2003 „Map” (OFFMUSIC  Rec) album recorded with Jacaszek;  it was used to call a „trip hop singing poetry „.
  • 2005 „SEQUEL” (GUSSTAFF Rec); a second album with Jacaszek, continuation of joining together modern electronic music and „singing poetry”.
  • 2015 Various Artists – Discover – Donna Regina as recorded by, see on https://karaokekalk.bandcamp.com/track/lets-get-slow-wolniej-b-d-version-by-mi-ka

ART ACTIVITIES

  • 2001 she founded in Toruń, with Waldemar Ślefarski, Gallery of Vision, events combining photography and poetry, first step to organize festival Majowy Buum Poetycki (which still exist in Torun);
  • 2007 she was the quest of many festivals e.g 3rd festiwal sztuka opowiadania Wroclaw
  • 2009 XV Festival of books in Torun (XV Toruński Festiwal Książki 2009)
  • 2010 her drama ” Corridor ” (first place at the National Competition dramatic „Mirror. Picture. Illusion” in Łódź ) was reading in public during the Festival Białysztuk in Białystok.
  • 2015 on the stage of the Municipal Theatre in Inowroclaw was played premiere of „Corridor” based on that Malzahn’ splay.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

 GRANTS

  • 2015 Scholarship of the Marshal of Podlasie, half-yearly, to write a book „Pulpwood”
  • 2014 Scholarship city of Torun for the preparation of mini-radio play and to create an active website dedicated to the novel „The Queen of Rhubarb” 2004.
  • 2007 Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to write a novel „Fronasz”

Career Summary

Since 2016 – 2018      a lecturer at the University of Bialystok

Since 1992  –  till now  a journalist in the Polish media

Since 2009 – till now    in the Polish Radio in Bialystok

Core Skills

I write books  (storylines, novels, stories).

I deal with journalism.

I run radio programs  (day and evening bandwidth).

I hostQ and A’s with writers,concerts, galas, occasional events.

I sing.

I do sound editing.

I conduct workshops on creative thinking

A poet, prose writer and playwright, lyricist and vocalist; she has published short story collections – Baroness Late Autumn (2001) and There’s No Mono. There Are Short Stories (2007) – Space at the Ritz (2014)  a novel entitled The Queen of Rhubarb (2004) , Fronasz (2012) and a book of poetry called Things that Have Transpired (2001), A Former Tsar’s 9 Moments of Spring (2015); she also has to her credit the trip-hop album Map (2004) and (Sequel 2005); she lives in Białystok.

There can be no doubt that the most interesting part of Miłka O. Malzahn’s wide-ranging oeuvre is her prose. Beginning with her debut collection of short stories, Baroness Late Autumn, the writer has spoken in her own, recognizable and well established language. In the most general terms one might situate Malzahn’s prose in the genre of women’s literature, though this would not be entirely accurate, as the author “puts a twist” – to paraphrase the title of one of the works in her debut volume – on what most Polish female prose writers do.

She does not bring elements of feminist ideology into her texts, she doesn’t depict the fate of women as marginalized, she doesn’t paint genre scenes from the lives of modern women. What she does do is try to bring the reader into the world of women, showing him/her the peculiarities of a feminine sensibility and perspective on the world. She writes of women’s search for their own identity (The Queen of Rhubarb), of complex male-female relationships, and of the friendships between women of different ages (Baroness Late Autumn, There’s No Mono). At the same time, she avoids a naive sort of realism. Malzahn would seem to be not only interested in a depiction of “hard reality,” but also in penetrating the ontologically unstable realm of dreams, the imagination, hallucination, or simply fiction. It is there, in that space between the truth and invention, that she seeks responses to the fundamental questions: Who is the modern woman, and what is she like? In searching her out, she creates fascinating portraits of women that are far from the stereotypical images in today’s women’s prose.

Malzahn plays with conventions, multiplies the levels of fiction, thus creating a refined and intriguing prose that could satisfy both those in search of literary tidbits and passionate plot devourers. You might say that this prose is as delicate, whispered, and atmospheric as a fado, a form which appears in the title of one of her stories in There’s No Mono.

© Instytut Książki

Miłka Malzahn – a poet, prose writer and playwright, lyricist and vocalist, theater instructor (graduated in 1992), philosopher ( PhD in Russian philosophy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun in 2013) ; she has published short story collections – Baroness Late Autumn (2001), a book of poetry called Things that Have Transpired (2001) The Queen of Rhubarb (2004) , and There’s No Mono – There Are Short Stories (2007) a novel Fronasz (2012), Space at the Ritz (2014) A Former Tsar’s 9 Moments of Spring (2015) many publications in literary journals and anthologies; she also has to her credit the trip-hop album Map (2004) and (Sequel 2005); and still sings from time to time (in 2015 – Various Artists – Discover – Donna Regina as recorded by, see on https://www.milkamalzahn.pl/donna-regina-i-lets-get-slow-wolniej-badz-by-milka ) In 2001 she founded in Toruń, cooperate with Waldemar Ślefarski, Gallery of Vision, events combining photography and poetry, first step to organize festival Majowy Buum Poetycki (still exist, without the Originators now ); she writes plays – in 2010 her drama ” Corridor ” (first place at the National Competition dramatic „Mirror. Picture. Illusion” in Łódź ) was reading in public during the Festival Białysztuk in Białystok. On the occasion of publication each of her books she, as an author, prepares special events carrying a book in another dimension : images, sounds, shadows , etc.

Since 1999 she works as a journalist; in the Department of Polish Radio In Bialystok, now.

http://www.radio.bialystok.pl/chillout

kalendarz_2017..

In 2014, the Jahrbuch des Deutschen Polen-Instituts (yearbook of the German Polish Institute) attends to the Polish man. In the wake of the dramatic changes taking place in Polish society, in particular as a consequence of EU accession in 2004, especially young people in urban surroundings are rejecting traditional family ties and practicing what was until recently still considered taboo or appeared exotic. Where the traditional order starts to wobble, established gender roles also need to be redefined and restructured: up until now, the Polish man has enjoyed a privileged status, which is now being challenged at all levels.

Jahrbuch Polen. Jahrbuch Des Deutschen Polen-Instituts Darmstadt / Jahrbuch Polen 25 (2014). Manner

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Jahrbuch-Polen-Jahrbuch-Des-Deutschen-Polen-Instituts-Darmstadt-Jahrbuch-Pole-/182078388731

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SEQUEL is a song album by Jacaszek and Miłka Malzahn – poet and singer. This is a kind of „singing poetry” where poetic text  exists together with modern  electronic music. It could be named a „poetic electronic swing” , but this of course is too simple description.  SEQUEL is a music story of lost, broken or unfinished love, of feelengs, images, and dreams .

http://jacaszek.com/albums/sequel/