2016

2016 News, Reviews & Events

Author John GuzlowskiDecember 2016 - War Literature & the Arts interviews John Guzlowski - The December 2016 issue of War, Literature and the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities selected author John Guzlowski's new book Echoes of Tattered Tongues as its "Editor's Choice" for the year 2016. In a sensitive, thoughtful and wide-ranging interview with Guzlowski, writer Sean Purio explores Guzlowski's writing and what lies beneath it, saying about Echoes: "If honesty has a color, then Guzlowski writes in it." Read the entire interview online OR pdf...

December 2-4, 2016 - Washington, D.C. - Polish Perspectives at 2016 NCSS - Volunteers from the American Council for Polish Culture organized and manned a Polish Perspectives booth at the 2016 Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies. With several thousand teachers in attendance, and more than 200 booths, this large bustling conference was a great venue to present Polish perspectives on history and culture. As we have done in the past, Aquila Polonica was happy to donate copies of its titles and accompanying material, which was given away to teachers during the conference. Some photos below:

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November 17-20, 2016 - Washington, D.C. - 2016 ASEEES Convention - Exciting to be in the nation's capital once again for the annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies, where we exhibited all our titles. Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian and Creative Director Ewa Wojciak attended and manned the booth. And since we were in Washington, D.C., the newly appointed ambassador Piotr Wilczek invited attendees interested in Polish affairs to the Ambassador's residence for a special reception. Photos below of our booth, and the Ambassador making a few remarks:

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November 7, 2016 - Finnish version of The Auschwitz Volunteer now available! - Just received our copies of the Finnish version of The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery by Captain Witold Pilecki! We licensed Finnish-language rights to publisher Minerva Kustannus Oy in Helsinki.

October 7 to 9, 2016 - Los Angeles - Guzlowski Echoes Book Tour - Over a whirlwind weekend in early October, author John Guzlowski flew into Los Angeles to do five events and a cable TV interview about his new book Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded, and its recently released audiobook narrated by actor John Brandi. More....

September 17, 2016 - Verse Daily's Poem of the Day - We're excited that prestigious poetry media outlet Verse Daily has chosen the poem "Today the Gypsies Are Burning" from John Guzlowski's new book, Echoes of Tattered Tongues as its Poem of the Day! Read the Poem of the Day online, OR in pdf...

September 13, 2016 - Brazilian edition of The Color of Courage - We just received our copies of the Brazilian edition (translated to Portuguese, of course!) of The Color of Courage by Julian Kulski, from the publisher, Editora Valentina, to whom we licensed the Portuguese translation rights for Brazil. Released in August, the book has garnered great reviews so far!

September 8, 2016 - Harvard Review book review of Echoes of Tattered Tongues - The Harvard Review Online gives a great review of Echoes of Tattered Tongues by John Guzlowski, calling it "a capstone project...commendable for its psychological accuracy." The review, by Okla Elliott, concludes: "Echoes of Tattered Tongues is a formally coherent, challenging, and important book, chronicling the lasting scars of one family with deftness and narrative depth. Guzlowski is often bluntly direct, occasionally lyrically oblique, but both to great effect." Read the review online OR in pdf...

August 20, 2016 - The Auschwitz Volunteer in the Wall St. Journal - The Wall St. Journal names The Auschwitz Volunteer as one of the "Five Best" books on wartime secret missions!! Read the article here (print version)... OR here (pdf of online version)... OR online (WSJ subscription required). And here's our PRESS RELEASE...

July 11, 2016 - The Jerusalem Post reviews The Color of Courage - "Kulski's account is fascinating because of its blend of attention to the persecution of Jews and his descriptions of the issues that non-Jewish Poles faced," says the Jerusalem Post in its review of The Color of Courage. Calling Julian Kulski's wartime diary "immensely accessible today," the review concludes, "Memoirs like this serve an essential purpose in binding together the history of the Holocaust and the countries in which it took place. The persecution of the Jews was not some isolated event in a vacuum but part of the destruction of Europe. It is not a Jewish issue only, as this book reminds us, but one that crosses boundaries of family and life." Read the entire review online OR pdf...

June 21, 2016 - Echoes of Tattered Tongues Audiobook now available! - The audiobook of Echoes of Tattered Tongues in now available on Audible.com, Amazon and iTunes, beautifully narrated by newcomer Jon Brandi. Click here to get it!

May 23, 2016 - Mainland China edition of The Auschwitz Volunteer - We just received our copies of the simplified Chinese (Mainland China) edition of The Auschwitz Volunteer by Captain Witold Pilecki, translated to English by Jarek Garlinski. We licensed the simplified Chinese rights to Beijing World Publishing Corporation. We licensed complex Chinese rights to Acropolis in Taiwan, and that edition has been available since early 2014.

May 11-14, 2016 - BookExpo America & BookCon, Chicago, IL - This year BookExpo America is in Chicago, at McCormick Place Convention Center, and Poland is the featured country! Aquila Polonica will be sharing booth space with the official exhibit by the Polish Book Institute, Booth 1504/1505—showcasing Aquila Polonica titles and bringing three authors who will be doing evnts at BEA and BookCon, and in the Chicago area, all week. For more details and the event schedule...

April 13, 2016 - World Literature Today reviews Echoes of Tattered Tongues - "Taut...beautifully realized," says World Literature Today in its sensitive and thoughtful review of Echoes of Tattered Tongues. Read the entire review online OR pdf...

April 4, 2016 - Publishers Weekly reviews Echoes of Tattered Tongues - "Gut-wrenching narrative lyric poems," is how Publishers Weekly describes author John Guzlowski's work in Echoes of Tattered Tongues, concluding "Poems of this nature are not meant to alleviate the pain, but to help keep a record of it; to serve as a reminder that silence is not a crime, but forgetting is." Read the entire review online OR pdf...

April 2016 - Virginia Living Magazine reviews Echoes of Tattered Tongues - "This is an astonishing collection," says the Books section of the April 2016 issue of Virginia Living Magazine! Read the review...

April 2016 - Polish American Journal reviews Echoes of Tattered Tongues - "With unapologetic rawness, John Guzlowski gives us his family's memoirs in a mix of poetry and prose in Echoes of Tattered Tongues. In Echoes we are shown the stark experiences of his family in three different time periods: his parents' retirement, after the war, and during World War II." Read the entire review online OR pdf...

March 15, 2016 - Lynchburg, VA - Holocaust Education Foundation of Central Virginia - John Guzlowski, author of Echoes of Tattered Tongues , presented a program titled "The Unknown Face of the Holocaust" at Lynchburg College, sponsored by the Holocaust Education Foundation of Central Virginia. The audience of nearly 200 people engaged in a lively Q&A with the author after his presentation, which included readings LynchburgCollege3 from his new book, then stayed to purchase books at the event from Givens Books & Little Dickens, which the author signed, and enjoy the complimentary reception afterwards.

February 29, 2016 - Foreword Reviews review of Echoes of Tattered Tongues - Foreword Reviews, one of the major publishing industry media, just gave Echoes of Tattered Tongues a 5-heart review, calling it a "devastating, one-of-a-kind collection." Echoes was one of only six books featured in the Poetry Spotlight of Foreword Reviews' Spring 2016 issue. Read the review online OR pdf...

February 27, 2016 - "Echoes of Tattered Tongues" Book Trailer Becomes a Viral Video! - We just learned that the book trailer for our new book "Echoes of Tattered Tongues" has become a "Viral Video"! Please help us push it higher in the rankings by sharing on your social media sites, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. You can watch the trailer above or at this link. Click here for the Viral Videos listing.

February 15, 2016 - Review of Echoes of Tattered Tongues by Danusha Goska - Beautifully written review by Danusha Goska, in her Save Send Delete blog, of Echoes of Tattered Tongues. Among other things, she says: "Guzlowski's book is essential for anyone wanting fully to understand ethnicity in America... Through authentic and meticulously observed and recorded details, Guzlowski reaches the universal. All readers, of any ethnicity or life experience, will find something to identify with in these pages...This is an excellent, important, and highly recommended book." Read the review online OR pdf...

February 10, 2016 - Washington, D.C. - National Press Club - Julian Kulski, author of The Color of Courage, spoke at the Washington, D.C. National Press Club luncheon meeting of American Legion Post 20. Speaking to an enthralled audience, Mr. Kulski described his wartime experience as a boy soldier in the Polish Underground, illustrated with a short clip from his documentary film Legacy of the White Eagle. (Photo: Rex Stucky)

February 6, 2016 - Los Angeles - Aquila Polonica Creative Director Ewa Wojciak Featured Speaker - Aquila Polonica Creative Director Ewa Wojciak will be a featured speaker at the prestigious Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair, one of the world's largest events showcasing and celebrating the international artists' book community,Sunday, February 14, 2016, 2 pm, at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Read the press release...

January 31, 2016 - Cosmopolitan Review reviews Echoes of Tattered Tongues - Wonderful review of our upcoming March release Echoes of Tattered Tongues by John Guzlowski, in the Winter 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan Review, written by Maja Trochimczyk! Detailed, thoughtful, erudite, the review begins: "Some books take a lifetime to write, yet they can be read in one sleepless night, filled with tears of compassion and a heaviness of heart." Calling the book "unforgettable," Ms. Trochimczyk concludes: "Intensely personal, the book is, at the same time, universal...impeccable use of language...The book is an historical and literary revelation...intense, starkly realistic...It should be considered on a par with the work by giants of Holocaust literature—memoirs by Primo Levi, or stories by Tadeusz Borowski." Read the entire review online OR pdf...

January 14, 2016 - Westwood Village Rotary, Los Angeles - Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian was given the 2015 NonRotarian Volunteer of the Year Award for her volunteer work in the local community.