The meeting with Anna Onichimowska took place on 20 November at the Municipal Public Library. The author of “The Distant Voyage” admitted that she has been a professional writer for many years and supports herself exclusively through writing. Her adventure with literature began immediately after graduating in philology. At the children's publishing house where she worked, she was responsible for evaluating manuscripts. It was then that she decided to start writing herself, especially since the vast majority of the texts sent to the publishing house were not impressive.
Onichimowska has been writing for almost 30 years now—both books based on real life and fantasy works. She writes for children and adults alike. However, the overwhelming majority of her books are created with children in mind. As she noted, Janusz Korczak, a classic of children's literature, had a major influence on her writing. The writer devoted her master's thesis to his work.
The many children gathered at Galeria Format showered the Warsaw writer with questions. Asked about her sources of inspiration, the writer replied: “Ideas are lying in the street; you just have to know how to pick them up.” One of her works—“A Good Monster Isn’t Bad”—was inspired by a conversation she overheard between two boys (One of the boys knocked. The other asked: who is it? The first replied: a hippopotamus. In “A Good Monster...” it is a real hippopotamus that knocks on the door of one of the characters in the story). The writer also added that she likes open endings very much, because they make readers feel more attached to the characters in her books.
“Writing gives me enormous pleasure,” Onichimowska confessed. The author of “The Highest Mountain in the World” writes practically everywhere, especially since she loves travelling. Fragments of her texts were written in India, Nepal, Australia, South Africa, Greece and Finland. Now the writer dreams of travelling to South America.
The author of “The End of the World and Wild Strawberries” encouraged the children to write to her. She noted that she receives many letters and emails from fans of her writing and responds to all of them. The writer takes her readers' suggestions and opinions very seriously. Thanks to a request from one of the girls, the lonely ghost Maciek, a character in one of Onichimowska's books, will meet the little ghost Karolina.
Anna Onichimowska writes novels, screenplays and columns. She is the author of radio plays and theatrical works, as well as the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the President of the Republic of Poland's Award for Children's and Young People's Literature, “Art for the Young”. Two films based on her screenplays are scheduled to be made next year.
(GA information)