Anne Carson receives the 2025 Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award
On Wednesday evening, 11 June 2025, in the exceptional setting of the Palace of the Commonwealth – home to the treasures of the National Library of Poland – the ceremony of the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award took place. The 2025 laureate is Anne Carson – an eminent poet, essayist, translator, and classical philologist, considered one of the most original voices in contemporary world literature. The Strategic Partners of the 2025 Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award are the PZU Foundation and Liebrecht & wooD Poland.
The Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award honors the world’s most outstanding writers whose work reflects the values close to Zbigniew Herbert’s own legacy—such as freedom, human dignity, independence of thought, and respect for cultural heritage. Presented annually since 2013, it remains the only literary award of such global significance rooted in Poland – Herbert’s homeland.
Anne Carson was born in 1950 in Toronto. She studied classical philology, which she later taught for many years. Her writing, while in constant dialogue with tradition, is deeply contemporary in its language, imagery, and the issues it addresses. In an extraordinary way, she explores the nature of love and desire, pain and loss, death and the passage of time. Most of her major works have been published in Polish, including Autobiography of Red, The Beauty of the Husband, Eros the Bittersweet, and Decreation. Still awaiting translation is her extraordinary work Nox—a poem, a collection of fragments, notes, translations, a visual art piece, and above all, an elegy for her brother.
Anne Carson’s work, deeply rooted in a dialogue with the great literary tradition—from Homer and Sappho to the twentieth century—naturally resonates with the writing of Zbigniew Herbert, who likewise sought a spiritual connection with classical Europe and persistently questioned the role of the individual within history.
During the ceremony, Anne Carson said:
“I like thinking. It seems to me one of the most exhilarating things we do as human beings. And if you want to record or transcribe or capture the exhilaration of thinking, your best machinery will be a poem. That is why I am particularly drawn to the poems of Zbigniew Herbert that speak in the voice of a certain Mr. Cogito and address problems of cogitation.“
In her laudation, Jury member, poet and translator Krystyna Dąbrowska, emphasized:
“Anne Carson calls her long poems “novels” or “essays” and indeed she incorporates the elements of the essay, prose poetry, drama and translation into lyrical diction […]. By crossing genres and playing with our expectations, Carson doesn’t leave the realm of poetry—on the contrary, she expands its limits, or even makes it seem limitless. She is a poet of stunning imagination, giving me, as a reader, the feeling of utter freedom, of discovering new worlds.“
During the gala, poems by Zbigniew Herbert selected by Anne Carson were performed by two acclaimed Polish actresses – Magdalena Czerwińska and Maja Ostaszewska. The poetry of the Mr. Cogito author – deeply rooted in classical tradition and poignantly contemporary – found new life and resonance with the poetic sensibility of this year’s laureate.
The laureate was selected by an international Jury composed of outstanding writers and literary scholars:
- Krystyna Dąbrowska (Poland) – poet, translator, essayist
- Edward Hirsch (USA) – poet and President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
- Michael Krüger (Germany) – poet, novelist, and long-time publisher and editor at Carl Hanser Verlag
- Mercedes Monmany (Spain) – essayist, literary critic, and expert on Central European literature
- Aleš Šteger (Slovenia) – poet, essayist, literary curator
The Secretary of the Jury is editor and art historian Mikołaj Nowak-Rogoziński.
The Award comprises a statuette designed by Szaroszyk & Rycerski Architekci – featuring Zbigniew Herbert’s autograph – and a prize of $50,000 USD, funded by the Award’s Strategic Partners. Representing the Partners, the award was presented by Jacek Michałowski, meber of the Board of the PZU Foundation, and Magdalena Bartkiewicz-Podoba, CEO of Liebrecht & wooD Poland.
The evening concluded with a Visual Concert – a multimedia performance where sound and image merged in a poetic narrative. The visual layer was created by acclaimed animation director and visual artist Mariusz Wilczyński, accompanied by outstanding musicians: Marcel Markowski, cellist and member of the Royal String Quartet, and Paweł Szamburski, clarinetist, composer, and co-founder of the Lado ABC music collective. Their joint performance of the piece Finale created a unique atmosphere of reflection and contemplation.
A video recording of the 2025 Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award ceremony is available on the Zbigniew Herbert Foundation’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, as well as on the YouTube channel of the National Library of Poland.
Strategic Partners of the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award 2025:
- PZU Foundation
- Liebrecht & wooD Poland – Investor and Patron of High Culture at Centrum Praskie Koneser
Media patron: Polish Radio
More information:
www.fundacjaherberta.com
www.facebook.com/FundacjaHerberta
Media Contact:
Sylwia Olczak | PRIMUM PR | email: s.olczak@primum.pl | mob. +48 608 072 086
