Published by MTO Press, 2023
White Nights by Urszula Honek, translated by Kate Webster, is a haunting collection of thirteen interconnected stories set in a remote village in Poland’s Beskid Niski region. Each narrative delves into the lives of villagers grappling with poverty, loss, and existential despair, painting a vivid portrait of a community shaped by hardship. Honek’s poetic prose, rendered with sensitivity in Webster’s translation, captures the liminal atmosphere of the “white nights”—a natural phenomenon where twilight lingers—mirroring the characters’ suspended realities. Themes of isolation, identity, and the human yearning for connection permeate the collection, offering a profound exploration of life’s fragility and resilience. Acclaimed for its lyrical depth and emotional resonance, White Nights was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024 and shortlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, marking a significant contribution to contemporary Polish literature in translation.
You can read reviews here and here.
White Nights is available to purchase here.