Poland has arguably the most exciting and diverse literary scene in the new Europe, and this special issue provides the first panoramic portrait in English translation of this dynamic literary culture. This 400-page anthology, which is the first and most comprehensive survey in English of Polish writing since the end of Communist rule, includes material from several generations of authors in a range of genres. Poems, stories, novel excerpts, feuilletons, reportage, criticism, and polemicism by more than seventy-five writers are translated in this isse. It promises to provide general readers, students, and publishers with a long-overdue introduction, and a significant, continuing resource. 

Among the 50 poets included in this remarkable selection are the generation of poets born before World War II, including those who are already well known in English translation, such as Herbert, Milosz, and Szymborska, as well as the less visible but no less remarkable Jerzy Ficowski, Julia Hartwig, Ursula Koziol, and Tadeusz Rozewicz. The "Generation of 1968," a.k.a, the "New Wave"(which includes Stanislaw Baranczak, Julian Kornhauser, Ryszard Krynicki, Ewa Lipska, and Adam Zagajewski) is well represented, as are many other poets of the middle generation, like Piotr Sommer, Ewa Lipska, and Bronislaw Maj. And there is a substantial selection of work by younger poets like Andrzej Sosnowski, Marcin Swietlicki, Jacek Podsiadlo, Marcin Sendecki, and Marzanna Bogumila Kielar, as well as documents by the writers associated with the counter-culture journal bruLion, a school of poets sometimes known under the rubric of "[Frank] O'Harism."

Literary prose by several generations of authors is amply represented as well. There are excerpts from the late Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski's Diary Written at Night, a short story by Henryk Grynberg, recent short prose by Slawomir Mrozek, feuilletons by Pawel Huelle, and novel excerpts by Aleksander Jurewicz and Stefan Chwin. Likewise, this issue contains work by some of Poland's most exciting younger prose writers, including Andrzej Stasiuk, Magdalena Tulli, Natasza Goerke, Olga Tokarczuk, and Piotr Szewc, to name a few. 

To help the uninitiated navigate the diverse terrain mapped in these pages, this issue includes two extensive interviews, one with the American translator Clare Cavanagh, and one with the Polish poet and translator Piotr Sommer. Also included are critical essays by a number of prominent older and younger Polish critics, like Jerzy Jarzebski and Piotr Sliwinski. These essays serve not only to place the writers presented here in the much wider contexts of Polish literature and culture, but themselves demonstrate the richness of Polish critical discourse.