Authors
RADEK RAK
Full name: Radosław Rak, veterinary surgeon and writer, author of fantasy books. He graduated in veterinary medicine from the University of Life Sciences in Lublin and works in this profession. In his writings, combines real history, customs, and social life with fairy-tale elements, frequently drawing on myths and legends. He has published his stories in such magazines as ‘Fantastyka’, ‘Nowa Fantastyka’, ‘Lampa’, ‘Fraza’, ‘Fenix Antologia’, e-zine ‘Esensja’, the anthologies Polish Legends and Tarnowskie Góry in Fantasy, as well as the charity-dedicated anthology 24/02/2022. For the online library WolneLektury.pl, he wrote Little Animals.
As a novelist, Rak made his debut with the 2014 book I Love You, Lilith. His next novel, The Empty Sky (2016), earned him the Gold Honourable Mention of the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award and a nomination for the Janusz A. Zajdel Award. The book that brought him the greatest popularity is The Tale of the Serpent’s Heart, or a Second Word about Jakób Szela (2019), for which he received the 2020 Nike Literary Award, the Jerzy Żuławski Main Literary Award, ‘Nowa Fantastyka’ Award for the Best Polish Book of the Year, the Janusz A. Zajdel Polish Fandom Award, Śląkfa Award, and the Achievement Award of the European Science Fiction Society Award for the Best Written Work of Fiction 2021. The novel became the basis for an opera by Aleksander Nowak and a theatre production by Beniamin M. Bukowski (staged at Kraków’s National Stary Theatre in 2022). Rak’s most recent novel to date, Agla. Aleph (2022), won the Award of Kraków UNESCO City of Literature.
As a novelist, Rak made his debut with the 2014 book I Love You, Lilith. His next novel, The Empty Sky (2016), earned him the Gold Honourable Mention of the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award and a nomination for the Janusz A. Zajdel Award. The book that brought him the greatest popularity is The Tale of the Serpent’s Heart, or a Second Word about Jakób Szela (2019), for which he received the 2020 Nike Literary Award, the Jerzy Żuławski Main Literary Award, ‘Nowa Fantastyka’ Award for the Best Polish Book of the Year, the Janusz A. Zajdel Polish Fandom Award, Śląkfa Award, and the Achievement Award of the European Science Fiction Society Award for the Best Written Work of Fiction 2021. The novel became the basis for an opera by Aleksander Nowak and a theatre production by Beniamin M. Bukowski (staged at Kraków’s National Stary Theatre in 2022). Rak’s most recent novel to date, Agla. Aleph (2022), won the Award of Kraków UNESCO City of Literature.
