On Thursday, October 8, a meeting was held at Galeria Format (Municipal Public Library) with Arkadiusz Niemirski, a journalist, satirist, author of cabaret texts and writer. Niemirski became famous as one of the authors who continued the adventures of Mr. Automobile. He wrote 16 books featuring Tomasz N.N., a character created by Zbigniew Nienacki.
“I encountered Nienacki’s work as early as childhood. There were no better books at the time,” the writer told the IstotneInformacje.pl portal. “I also came across texts by Edmund Niziurski. But I was too similar to the heroes of his books. Mr. Automobile, on the other hand, provided me with complete exoticism.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Niemirski spoke, among other things, about how literary critics treat crime fiction dismissively. “For some reason, authors of crime novels and authors of books for children and young people are considered Class B writers,” he stated.
The author of “The Almost Perfect Crime” also addressed the fact that fewer and fewer people read. “Our culture is a visual culture. In fact, we have regressed in our development. We have many toys and gadgets. But we have stopped reading books; we are not developing or thinking logically,” he emphasized. According to Niemirski, contrary to appearances, the strength of Mr. Automobile lay not in his vehicle, but in his “portable laptop, weighing an average of 1.25 kilograms—his brain.”
The writer introduced the children to profiles of the most famous detectives, including Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Philip Marlowe. He stressed that his favorite is Lieutenant Columbo (that day, the author was wearing a coat resembling the trench coat worn by the hero of the famous television series). “It is not the case that solving the mystery is the most important thing,” he explained. “In ‘Columbo,’ we know from the beginning who committed the murder, and yet every episode remains suspenseful until the end.”
Arkadiusz Niemirski also recalled the period when he co-created the cabaret “I,” which included Tomasz Zubilewicz, now a well-known weather presenter. The writer summed up his collaboration with the future television star briefly: “He was eager to perform on stage, but reluctant to learn his lines.”
For some time, the author of “A Bibliophile’s Testament” worked as a music journalist. “As a teenager, I fell in love with the music of the group Procol Harum,” he recounted. “I never imagined that I would travel around the world and write concert reports. My dreams came true. It is worth having dreams and passions. And it is worth supporting them with hard work,” he added.
(information ii)