Kashubian Informational Site

Stolem's Medal (source: www.pomorania.pl)

On 28 May 2009, at 6PM in Gdańsk’s Staromiejski City Hall on Korzenna Street 33/35, Ida Czaja and Roman  Drzeżdżon will be recognized with the Stolem’s Medal award. From its inception in 1967, this Pomorania Student Club’s award recognizes organizations and individuals who have distinguished themselves by popularizing or otherwise impacting the development of the Pomerania region and Kashubia.

Ida Czaja is a school teacher and a Kashubian poet who has been publishing since the 1990’s. She debuted in a Kashubian periodical “Tatczëzna”.

Roman Drzeżdżon is a Kashubian publicist, published author, and a poet.  When not writing, Drzeżdżon can be found at the Puck Regional Museum where he holds a fulltime position.

Five schools have submitted their candidate nominations for this year’s Student Nobel award organized by the University of Gdańsk Independent Student Association (ISA), a venture aimed at recognizing outstanding students. Of the submitted entries, 56 Pomerelia  student nominees were acknowledged in the academic, social, sports, arts, and volunteer categories.

This year’s Student Nobel recipient is a Kashub, a graduate of the University of Gdańsk’s Polish Philology Master’s program and a multi-discipline PhD student of the Slavic Studies, Russian Philology, and Philosophy, Hanna Makurat.

Makurat has contributed a number of academic papers, mostly dealing with Kashubian culture (especially the language), and has  published several works in Kashubian. She is also the author of the first thesis entirely written in the Kashubian language.

In 2007, Hanna Makurat had claimed the regional Primus Inter Pares award considered to be the Student Nobel’s preliminary.

More information about Makurat can be found on these Web sites:

• Hanna’s home page: hana.kashubia.com
• Biography and poetry published on the ZYMK portal
• Biography and works (original and translations) published on the Czëtnica portal
• Pictures from the Student Nobel award ceremony are available at ISA.

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On 31 January 2009, in Dwór Artusa in Gdańsk, TVP Gdańsk, Radio Gdańsk, and Gazeta Wyborcza held a deliberation aiming at addressing the question of  “Kashubians:  who are they?”

Paweł Zbierski, in the next episode of his “For two voices” multimedia debate will present two competing outlooks on Kashubian movement:  “traditional” and “modern.”

The program will air on the TVP Gdańsk channel on 7 February at 6:50 PM. In addition, it will be available online at the station’s portal.

Radio Gdańsk is planning to rebroadcast the program on 9 February at 8 PM. Again, it will be accessible via the Internet, for those who missed the original broadcast.

Gdańsk City Web site recently added Kashubian language version to its municipal informational portal. Reacting to the initiative of the local chapter of ZK-P, with backing from the Gdańsk City Council, it became the first Kashubian language government portal.

Translation of the site was made possible through volunteer work of Tomasz Fopke, Roman Drzeżdżon,  Zbigniew Jankowski, and Jacek Fopke who assumed a role of the project coordinator.

The main challenge translators of the site were faced with was the selection of words and grammar structure allowing readers with limited knowledge of written Kashubian and the non-speakers (Polish readers) to comprehend its content. Reading through the pages, one can easily sense the different dialects the respective authors are comfortable with (i.e.  òdemkłi vs òtemkłi [Kasz. for opened]). Hardly a problem, this spelling variety actually adds texture to what some may consider, dry text. Overall, the spelling seems to lean toward the norms supported by E. Gołąbek (i.e. pąkt vs punkt [Kasz. for point]).

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William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s birthday celebrations will commence at The Baltic Sea Culture Center (Gdańsk, Korzenna Str. 33/35) on 23 April, 2007, at 6 PM. The festivities will start with a presentation of a film based on Shakespeare’s writings. Jazz musicians, Olo Walicki, Piotr Pawlak, and Kuba Staruszkiewicz will provide live background music for this silent film. Later on, fragments of the Taming of the Shrew will be performed in Kashubian, featuring Damroka Kwidzińska and Zbigniew Jankowski. The evening will close out with Olo Walicki’s concert. Accompanied by his band, Walicki will premier his newest album called “Kaszëbë.” Following the performance, Kashubian-style feast will take place.

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