Poet, novelist, essayist and translator. Born in Iraq, near Babylon. Since 1976 lives in Poland. BA in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Baghdad, MA in Polish Language and Literature from the University of Warsaw and PhD in Drama Studies from the Warsaw University, where he now lectures on Arabic Language and Literature. 1985-1988 lecturer of Arabic Literature and Drama in the University of Tizi-Ouzu in Algeria, 1993-1994 visiting scholar at the Indiana University. Author of books of poetry, criticism and translation. Numerous poetry prizes, e.g.: The Polish ZAiKS Prize for Translation, (Warsaw 2003), Witold Hulewicz Award for all works, (Warsaw 2003), International Day of Poetry and the magazine “Poezja Dzisiaj” Award for all works, (Warsaw 2005). His poems were published in many languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Czech, Kurdish, Slovak, Spanish, Persian, Polish, and Russian. His poems have appeared in many Arab, English and Polish magazines and anthologies, such as The Space Between Our Footsteps - poems and paintings from the Middle East, Simon & Schuster Books, Literatures of Asia, Africa and Latin America, Prentice Hall with Simon & Schuster Books and Pisarze Świata (The Writers of the World), Encyclopedia PWN. Author of Arabic Theatre: origins, history and quest, Dialog (Poland). Main translator of the Polish literature into Arabic (translated more than 40 polish authors, among others Słowacki, Mickiewicz, Miłosz, Herbert, Szymborska, Różewicz, Grochowiak, Zagajewski, Stachura, Wojaczek, Kapuściński, Kołakowski) and Arabic literature in Polish. Member of Polish P.E.N. Centre Board (till November 2003), The Union of Polish Writers, the Polish Oriental Association and the Middle East Studies Association of North America.
Experts
Hatif Janabi
Zora Jaurová
Profession: Producer, Country: Slovakia
“She worked as the theatre dramaturg, international cultural cooperation consultant and EU Affairs expert for Slovak government and European Commission. She was the co-author and artistic director of the Košice - European Capital of Culture 2013. Until January 201was a member of the Board of the Slovak Arts Council.
Today, she works as a film producer and partner at MPhilms and as an advisor to the mayor of Bratislava, Matúš Vallo. She also works as an expert on cultural policy and the creative industries in Slovakia and abroad. She is the President of the Slovak Creative Industries Forum and a member of the European network of film producers Ateliers du Cinéma Européen (ACE).”
Leszek Jazdzewski
Leszek Jażdżewski is a graduate of the University of Oxford, founder and editor-in-chief of Liberté!, a liberal journal and foundation based in Poland.
Liberté! organises the annual Freedom Games, one of the biggest intellectual forums in Central Europe.
Leszek was a Policy Fellow at the School of Transnational Government at the EUI and a non-resident fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna where his work focused on the ways of countering the rise of national populism in Europe.
He was selected as a European Young Leader by the Friends of Europe (class 2022). He is a co-host of the Liberal Europe podcast.
Ivan Jestřáb
Mr. Jestřáb is a professional Czech diplomat. At the MFA he was dealing with many different agendas. He worked as Director of the Internal Administration Department, Asian and Pacific Countries Department, South and Southeastern European Countries Department, UN Department. He held office of Political Director and Junior Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Security Questions. For two years, he performed functions of the External Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister. At the beginning of his career abroad, Mr. Jestřáb worked in Scandinavia. In 1990` he was Chargé d´Affaires at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Norway. From 1997 to 2002 he was Ambassador of Czech Republic to India with accreditation for several other countries of the Southern Asia, from 2004 to 2008 Ambassador in Belgrade with accreditation for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Mr. Jestřáb spent the period from 2008 to 2013 on Southern Caucasus as Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Georgia and Armenia. From 2017, he is Czech Ambassador to Poland. Among his hobbies are classical music, ballet and history.
Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka
Since 2006 Undersecretary of State at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. She is dealing with issues connected with the Polish-Jewish relations. She graduated from the Law Department and did post-graduate journalistic studies at Warsaw University. She worked as a journalist and editor-in-chief of the “Dziennik Polski” daily in Detroit. She also was a member of the Dialogue group. In 2001 she was nominated for the director for the development of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She is a member of the „Otwarta Rzeczpospolita” Association, of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute and of the Association of Polish Journalists. Author of a book about Pope John Paul II A Man Among Us, she published in Kultura and Tygodnik Powszechny.
Rastislav Káčer
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic
Rastislav Káčer was appointed Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic on 2022 -2023, after some thirty years of experience in the Slovak Foreign Service.
As a career diplomat, Rastislav Káčer served as Slovak Ambassador of Slovakia to the Czech Republic since 2020. He served before as the Slovak Ambassador to the Hungary (2013 - 2018) and to the United States of America (2003 - 2008).
Between 1994 and 1998 served at NATO Headquarters in Brussels and on his return from Brussels became director of Analysis and Planning Department and later the Director General for Security Policy and Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2001, he became the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defense responsible for the negotiation and accession process of Slovakia to NATO.
He is widely recognized as an expert on U.S. domestic and foreign policy, transatlantic relations, defense and security issues.
Aleksander Kaczorowski
Editor-in-chief of Aspen Review Central Europe, a quarterly journal published by Aspen Institute Prague. Previously, he was deputy editor-in-chief of Newsweek Polska and FORUM and chief editor of the Op-ed section of Gazeta Wyborcza. He was also responsible for the Polish edition of Gazeta Środkowoeuropejska, a monthly supplement to Gazeta Wyborcza, published in conjunction with daily newspapers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. He is an author of “Praski elementarz” (“A Prague Primer” in 2001, new edition 2012), a biography of Bohumil Hrabal “Gra w życie” (“The Game of Life”, 2004), “Europa z płaskostopiem” (“Flatfooted Europe”, 2006), “Praskie łowy” (“A Hunt in Prague”, 2007) and “Ballada o kapciach” (“A Ballad of Slippers”, 2012). He also translated works by Bohumil Hrabal, Josef Škvorecký, Egon Bondy and Helga Weiss.
Marta Kahancova
Marta Kahancova (1977) studied international economic relations and economic diplomacy at the University of Economics in Bratislava. Later she obtained her MA in Political Science after completing her studies at the Central European University in Budapest in 2002. Marta joined the ASSR in 2002 as a pre-dissertation student and in 2003 as a PhD student, working on a thesis titled Western Multinationals and the European Diversity: Shaping the Convergence of Employment Practices and Industrial Relations. The project explains why there are striking differences in employment practices across several subsidiaries of a Dutch multinational firm located in Western and Eastern Europe, whereas these differences do not necessarily mean East-West stereotypes. From January to December 2006 Marta was a visiting PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, Germany. She taught Employment Relations and Organizational Change at the University of Amsterdam’s International School for Humanities and Social Sciences.
Janusz Kahl
Graduated from Copenhagen Business School with additional courses in strategy and foreign trade. Since 1996 he has been Danish honorary consul in Krakow and since 2006 Swedish honorary consul in Krakow for Malopolska, Slesien, Podkarpacie and Swietokrzyskie regions. For over 15 years he has been supporting Danish-Polish business cooperation. He has been Consultant for Copenhagen County and Funen County in interregional cooperation with Malopolska Region since 1992. He is CEO in NordicHouse, a consultancy company for Nordic companies in Poland which was established in 2001 in Krakow. He is an owner and co-owner of private companies – ISS building company and ScanRehab.
Andrzej Kamler
