100 1 129 15 Throw Out Things I Didn’t

An intimate, unconventional and I was complaining about some dull educational very funny memoir about everything programme on Polskie Radio, and my mother said: we leave behind. ‘Not everything in life can be turned into a funny story.’ I knew it was true. But still I tried. Lamps, penknives, paperbacks, mechanical pencils, inflatable headrests. Marcin Wicha’s mother Joanna ‘I loved it; so funny, clever and moving. So impressively was a collector of everyday objects. When she dies and Marcin Wicha was born in Warsaw in 1972. A graphic unsentimental . . . I adored all the bits about books and leaves her apartment intact, Wicha is left to sort through designer and writer, he is one of Poland’s most successful the precise, unflinching portrait of Joanna.’ her things. Through them, he begins to construct an contemporary writers and the author of a number of bestselling Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Dear Reader and The Last image of Joanna as a Jewish woman, a mother, and a children’s books, as well as the winner of Poland’s biggest Act of Love citizen. As Poland emerged from the Second World War literary prizes for his adult writing. In 2017 Rzeczy, których into the material meanness of the Communist regime, nie wyrzuciłem (Things I Didn’t Throw Out) was published. ‘Devastatingly funny about the minutiae of family life and shortages of every kind shaped its people in deep and A bestseller, it won the Polityka Passport award and the the foibles of the elders but animated by a deep ethical profound ways. What they chose to buy, keep – and, prestigious Nike Literary Award. Wicha lives in Poland. sense of how injustice damages and contaminates . . . arguably, hoard – tells the story of contemporary Poland. Profoundly engaging [and] richly resonant.’ Marta Dziurosz translates across Polish and English, Irish Times Joanna’s Jewishness, her devotion to work, her negotiates publishing contracts and writes. She lives in the UK. formidable temperament, her weakness for consumer goods, all accumulate into an unforgettable portrait of a woman and, ultimately, her country. Cover design by Luke Bird Wicha Marcin ‘Wicha is Poland’s answer Translated by Marta Dziurosz Front cover photo: Zofia Chometowska, 1970 © Chometowscy / FAF to David Sedaris.’ Irish Times Things I Didn’t Author photograph © Mikołaj Starzy ´nski

Also available as an eBook ‘Funny, clever and moving.’ Throw Out Cathy Rentzenbrink, Daunt Books www.dauntbookspublishing.co.uk author of Dear Reader Marcin Wicha

9 781914 198021

£9.99