Andrzej Sapkowski
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Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Lodz, is a Polish fantasy writer. Sapkowski studied economics and worked as a businessman before becoming well known as a writer. His first short story, The Hexer (Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and garnered enormous critical success. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Hexer, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other books have made him one of the most well-known fantasy authors in Poland 1990s.
The main character of The Hexer (alternative translation: The Witcher) is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained from childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters and other vermin. Geralt moves in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At once cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place owes much to J.R.R. Tolkien, while also heavily influenced by Polish history and Slavic mythology.
Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for the short stories "Mniejsze zło" (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002).
In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka Passport award, which the Polish newsweekly Polityka grants to Polish artists that have strong prospects for international success.
In 2001, a film based on the Hexer cycle was released in Poland and internationally, titled Wiedźmin (The Hexer), but both have been critical and box office failures.
Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French and Slovakian.
Polish game publisher CD Projekt is also working on a role-playing PC game based on this universe. Called The Witcher, it's currently due for release in 2006.
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Bibliography
Short story collections
- The Hexer (Wiedźmin) (1990)
- Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) (1992)
- The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) (1993)
- Something ends, Something begins (Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna) (2000)
Novels
The Saga
- Blood of the Elves (Krew elfów) (1994)
- Season of Contempt (Czas pogardy) (1995)
- Baptism by Fire (Chrzest ognia) (1996)
- The Swallow's Tower (Wieża Jaskółki) (1997)
- Lady of the Lake (Pani Jeziora) (1999)
Narrenturm trilogy
- Narrenturm (2002)
- Warriors of God (Boży bojownicy) (2004)
- Lux perpetua (not yet released)
Other works
- The Eye of Yrrhedes (Oko Yrrhedesa) (1995), roleplaying game
- The World of King Arthur (Świat króla Artura. Maladie.) (1995)
- Manuscript Discovered in a Dragon's Cave (Rękopis znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini) (2001)
External links
- Andrzej Sapkowski's official site (http://www.sapkowski.pl)
- Page for Sapkowski at Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1140292/)cs:Andrzej Sapkowski
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