Czeslaw Milosz is a famous Polish writer and poet who received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
His lyrics absorbed the unique traditions of Eastern Europe, echoes of the bloody history of the 20th century, various cultures and religions, and the difficult experience of migration. He said about himself: “There are many cities and many countries within me…”
Surprisingly, Milos's first childhood memories are connected with Russia. His father, Alexander Milosh, was mobilized during the First World War and built roads and bridges in the distant Krasnoyarsk region, where Czeslaw and his mother traveled to visit his father. That's why the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russian trains and Krasnoyarsk are some of Czeslaw's first vivid childhood memories.
Czeslaw Milosz lived a long and vibrant life, witnessing wars, revolutions, and disasters. Czeslaw lived in Lithuania and Poland and participated in the partisan movement during World War II. After the communists came to power in Poland, he asked for political asylum in France and remained to live in Paris.
In 1960, Milosz moved to the United States and became a professor of Slavic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1980, Milosz received the Nobel Prize for "having shown with fearless clairvoyance the vulnerability of man in a world torn by conflict."
On May 23, as part of the "Book Soiree with Anna Komarovskaya" project, a literary meeting dedicated to the works of Czesław Milosz took place. The organizers envisioned this not as a classic lecture on the unusual moments in the biography and work of Czesław Milosz, but rather as a literary mini-club in which participants could share their impressions of Milosz's book, "The Valley of the Issa."
