A. M. Bakalar

A. M. Bakalar (born 3 March 1975, birth name: Joanna Zgadzaj[1]) is a Polish author, writing in English. Her novels are Madame Mephisto (2012) and Children of Our Age (2017).

Early life

Bakalar was born in Wroclaw, Poland. She studied at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, from which she graduated with a BA and MA in English Literature. In 2004 she emigrated to the UK. Between 2007 and 2011 she was a PhD student of postcolonial studies and comparative literature at Birkbeck College, University of London and University of Southampton. Bakalar wrote the draft of her first novel during her PhD studies.

Career

Bakalar's opinion pieces, stories and book reviews have appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Boundless Magazine, Words Without Borders, Wasafiri, BBC Radio 4, and elsewhere.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] She was the guest editor of Litro Poland Issue.[10]

Her first book, the novel Madame Mephisto, was published in April 2012.[11] The novel was well received by the critics. In The Times Literary Supplement, Max Liu wrote that "Bakalar…captures how isolating London can be for newcomers", while Lucy Popescu, writing in the Huffington Post, called it "a darkly-comic account of a Polish immigrant’s experiences in London".[12][13] The book was a reader nomination for the 2012 Guardian First Book Award.[14]

Her second novel, Children of Our Age, published in October 2017, is an exploration of modern-day human trafficking by Poles living in the UK.[15] The novel received a starred review in Publishers Weekly which called it "enthralling" and praised its "skillful storytelling".[16] Mary Rodgers, writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, called it an "unflinching yet ultimately compassionate second novel" and "an ambitious work of great scope and power."[17] In the Times Literary Supplement, Ania Ready described it as a "novel about the power of language to estrange and, occasionally, connect".[18]

Bakalar lives in London, UK.

Books
  • Madame Mephisto (2012), ISBN 978-0957132603
  • Children of Our Age (2017), ISBN 978-0993377334

References
  1. Magda Raczyńska."A.M. Bakalar – profesjonalna kłamczucha." wyborcza.pl, 2012-07-03
  2. "AM Bakalar". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  3. Bakalar, A. M. (2014). "Opinion | Britain's Poles Are Paying Their Way". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  4. "A. M. Bakalar - Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  5. "Where's your accent from? Britain's White Others". Boundless. Archived from the original on 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  6. Becker, Eric M. B. "Evald Flisar's "My Father's Dreams" - Words Without Borders". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  7. "Wasafiri Issue 75 - Wasafiri Magazine". www.wasafiri.org. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  8. "Woman of Your Dreams, Angielski - BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  9. "Writing | A.M. Bakalar". ambakalar.com. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  10. "Litro #126: Poland - Letter from the Editor". Litro Magazine Stories Transport you. 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  11. "Madame Mephisto | Stork Press". storkpress.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  12. "A. M. Bakalar MADAME MEPHISTO [...] – TheTLS". www.the-tls.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  13. "Supporting Independent Publishers". HuffPost UK. 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  14. GetOver99 (2012-07-24). "Guardian First Book Award reader nominations: Madame Mephisto by A M Bakalar". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  15. "Publications - Children of Our Age | Jantar Publishing". www.jantarpublishing.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  16. "Fiction Book Review: Children of Our Age by A.M. Bakalar. Jantar (Dufour, dist.), $21 trade paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-9933773-3-4". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  17. "The Chains of the Past: On A. M. Bakalar's "Children of Our Age" - Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  18. "Migrant tales from London's "Little Poland"". www.the-tls.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
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