Antoni Libera

Antoni Libera (1949) is a writer, translator, and theatre director. Among his translations into Polish are all of Samuel Beckett’s plays, as well as a large part of his prose works. He has directed numerous Beckett plays both in Poland and abroad, including in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ireland. He has also translated Homer’s Odyssey, the tragedies of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Racine, as well as the poetry of Hölderlin and Cavafy. His novel Madame (1998) received numerous awards in Poland and has been translated into 25 languages. In 2002, the novel was shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and in 2004 it was nominated for the European Literary Award (Prix de Littérature Européenne). In 2009, he published an intellectual autobiography entitled Godot i jego cień (Godot and His Shadow), which generated significant interest in Poland; it was translated into French in 2012 and published by Noir sur Blanc. In 2023, one of Poland’s most prestigious publishing houses, PIW, published his short story collection Nie wszystko umiera (Not to Be Born — That Is Best), inspired by Sophocles’ play Oedipus at Colonus.