Nike 2025: Final Seven Announced for Poland’s Top Literary Prize
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Poland’s prestigious Nike Literary Award has revealed its 2025 finalists, showcasing the breadth of contemporary Polish writing across biography, fiction, poetry, and essays. The winner will be announced on 5 October at the University Library in Warsaw, alongside the Readers’ Choice poll that opens with today’s shortlist.
The final seven are: Beata Guczalska for the monumental biography “Konrad Swinarski. Biografia ukryta”; Ignacy Karpowicz for the genre-bending novel “Ludzie z nieba”; Eliza Kącka for the intimate, formally inventive essay “Wczoraj byłaś zła na zielono”; Kora Tea Kowalska for “Patrz pod nogi. O zbieraniu rzeczy,” a cultural meditation on collecting and artifacts; Dorota Masłowska for the linked-story collection “Magiczna rana”; Tomasz Różycki for the war-shadowed poetry volume “Hulanki & Swawole”; and Paweł Sołtys (Pablopavo) for “Sierpień,” a Warsaw-set wandering essay blending memory and myth.
This is Karpowicz’s fifth Nike final; Masłowska is a six-time nominee and three-time finalist. Justyna Jaworska chairs the 2025 jury and includes Anna Arno, Witold Bereś, Bogdan Białek, Andrzej Brzeziecki, Zbigniew Mentzel, Radosław Romaniuk, Katarzyna Sawicka-Mierzyńska, and Krzysztof Siwczyk.
Last year’s Nike went to poet Urszula Kozioł for “Raptularz,” while the Readers’ Award honored Michał Witkowski’s “Wiara. Autobiografia.”
