Wrocław to announce Angelus Central European Literary Award winner

The Angelus Central European Literary Award will announce its winner in Wrocław on October 17. Funded by the City of Wrocław, the award is a significant literary event in the region. In addition to the main prize, a readers' plebiscite will allow the public to vote on seven finalist books; the winner of this category will receive a literary residency in Wrocław.

Among the finalists is the book ‘Cisza nad stepem. Kazachstan i pamięć o Rosji’ (Silence over the Steppe: Kazakhstan and the Memory of Russia) by Polish reporter and political scientist Joanna Czeczott, published by Wydawnictwo Czarne. The work explores Kazakhstan's complex history and its relationship with Russian dominance dating back to the 19th century.

The book examines the legacy of Soviet-era forced deportations, during which the Kazakh steppes were used to relocate various ethnic groups, including Poles, Germans, Koreans, and Chechens. Czeczott investigates how these historical traumas and the memory of Soviet repression continue to shape contemporary Kazakh society.