Projects

A Shield for Writers

The Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that followed had a considerable impact on the Polish literary community. In 2020, in response to the rising demand among writers, poets, translators, publishers and organizers of culture, thanks to additional funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Institute of Literature launched a campaign known as “A Shield for Writers”, under which dozens of authors and institutions received financial support and nearly 100 books of high artistic merit were published. A similar campaign was repeated in 2021.

About the project:

“The Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport provided the Institute of Literature with additional funds necessary to increase the number of purchased copyright licenses and launch a campaign to support poets, novelists, playwrights, critics and translators, and at the same time boost the promotion of contemporary Polish literature. These activities are organized in line with our statute, but on a larger scale”, explains dr hab. Józef Maria Ruszar, Director of the Institute of Literature.

“At the Institute, we live by a simple rule that a job well done deserves decent pay. This is why we turned to the editorial boards of literary magazines and writers’ associations to help us reach the authors in need. Thanks to our cooperation with institutions such as the Polish Writers’ Association and the Polish Writers’ Union, we were able to support those among them who particularly needed assistance in this time of crisis by subsidizing or purchasing their work”, says Ruszar. “Tips from young literary magazines such as “KONTENT” or “Stoner Polski” helped us reach out to the younger generation of writers, who often struggle to stay afloat in the ruthless reality of the literary market, not only during the pandemic.”

All the materials purchased by the Institute of Literature are available in the Reading Room at NowyNapis.eu. The IoL guarantees universal, unlimited, free access to all content and leaves all the proprietary copyrights to the transferred works with their authors. The Institute only acquires a non-exclusive license, i.e. the right to use the works on its media channels, without any prejudice to the authors’ right to publish them elsewhere.

Debuting Writers’ Support Program

In order to assist their literary debut, the Institute of Literature invites all young writers to join the Debuting Writers’ Support Program, under which selected applicants are eligible to receive a single subsidy to support the publication of their first poetry volume.

Continuations, a project for published authors

Apart from our Debuting Writers’ Support Program, we are also launching a similar project targeted at authors who have already published at least one stand-alone poetry volume.