Mateusz Żaboklicki is a Polish poet, playwright and photographer. He was born in 1991. He is the author of two books of poetry (“Nucić” in 2021 and “Letnisko” in 2023). He won the 2021 Iłłakowiczówna Prize and the Bierezin Special Award in 2019. He lives in Warsaw with his wife and children.
Żaboklicki has quickly become one of the most recognisable and unique voices of his generation, as well as a key representative of the so-called modernist revival in new Polish poetry. His work draws on a variety of conventions, genres, and traditions, linking them both to deeply personal narratives and a variety of aesthetic and philosophical interests that stem from his work in photography, his experience as a playwright, and his background as a Latin studies graduate. All this is underpinned by a subtle sense of humour that goes beyond obvious sarcasm or the immediacy of political satire.
Paweł Kaczmarski (Faculty of Letters, University of Wrocław): Framing the Poem: Photography and Form in New Polish Poetry
