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A prose writer, essayist, literary historian and critic, Stefan Chwin is a full professor at the University of Gdańsk. In the 1980s, he was a member of the editorial team of the Transgresje series (Volume ‘Dzieci’, edited by Maria Janion and Stefan Chwin, 1988). His most important critical and literary publications include: Bez autorytetu (with Stanisław Roszek, 1981), Romantyczna przestrzeń wyobraźni (1988), Samobójstwo jako doświadczenie wyobraźni (2010), Samobójstwo i „grzech istnienia” (2013), Miłosz. Interpretacje i świadectwa (2012), Miłosz. Gdańsk i okolice. Relacje. Dokumenty. Głosy. (2013). He also published Mickiewicz's Konrad Wallenrod in his own literary-historical study in the Biblioteka Narodowa book series (1993). As a novelist, he made his debut under the pen name Max Lars with the fantasy novels Ludzie-skorpiony (1984) and Człowiek-Litera (1989) - both with illustrations by the author.

The numerous books he has published include an autobiographical essay on Gdańsk of the 1950s Krótka historia pewnego żartu (1991); the novel Death in Danzig (1995), translated into more than a dozen languages, for which he received many awards such as the Paszport Polityki Award in 1995; the novel Esther (1999); the collection of ‘alternative stories’ Wspólna kąpiel (2001, together with Krystyna Lars); and the novels: Złoty pelikan (2002), Żona prezydenta (2005), Dolina Radości (2006), Panna Ferbelin (2011). He has also published Kartki z dziennika (2004) and Dziennik dla dorosłych. In 2015, he published Ein Deutsches Tagebuch in Germany and, in 2016, Srebrzysko. Powieść dla dorosłych.

Stefan Chwin is the recipient of numerous prizes, both for his academic work, e.g. the Jan Hevelius Science Award of the City of Gdańsk and an individual Prize of the Minister of Education, as well as for his literary work, e.g. one of the most important German literary awards - the Andreas Gryphius Prize (1999), and the Erich Brost Prize (1997). He has also been awarded more than a dozen prestigious national accolades: the PEN Club Prize, the Samuel Bogumił Linde Prize, the City of Gdańsk Splendor Gedanensis Award in the field of culture.

Stefan Chwin's books, articles and essays have been published in Germany, Austria, England, Ireland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Sweden, Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Japan, Switzerland, Russia, Mexico, Canada and the USA. Stefan Chwin is a member of the Polish Writers' Association, the Gdańsk Scientific Society (Societas Scientiarum Gedanensis) and the PEN-Club. From 2007 to 2014, he was a member of the Polish Language Council at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

pic. Krystyna Chwin