Peasants | meeting with Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak

The pretext for the meeting will be the play “Builders”, which tells the story of women who integrated, inspired and educated local communities in small towns in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian province.

Together with Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak, author of the bestselling “Chlopek” and “Servants for Everything,” we will look for answers to the question of how it happened that women went from being people absorbed in household and farm work or servants in wealthier homes to becoming social leaders working for their communities, often sacrificing their private lives in the process.

Note: Immediately before the meeting at 17:00 there will be a premiere of the play “Women Builders” (duration about an hour). The conversation with the author will take place immediately after the performance. The events are connected, as one takes place in the context of the other.

Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak – born in Wroclaw, a polonist by education, a journalist by profession, for years associated with the Wroclaw press. She is the author of two biographical books: on Antoni Slonim Slonimski (“Slonimski. Heretic on the pulpit”) and Kazimiera Illakowiczówna (“Illa”), as well as the bestselling first book in Poland about pre-war servants (“Servants for everything”) and the historical reportage “Peasants”, which was published in May 2023, reached a record circulation of 400,000 copies and was recognized by major Polish media as the most important book of 2023. It has been awarded the MPiK Bestsellers, the Torańska Award, the O!Lśnienimi of Onet and the City of Krakow, the “Lubimyczytać” Readers’ Award.

The event is held as part of the Festival of Forgotten Cultures: Female Builders. Herstories of Courageous Womenco-financed by funds from the Local Government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

The event is part of the celebration of the Year of Brave Women.