The First Czesław Miłosz Literary Award Goes to Krzysztof Pomian
The Jury of the Czesław Miłosz Literary Award has decided to present the inaugural Award to Professor Krzysztof Pomian in recognition of his lifetime achievement. Established by the National Library of Poland in 2026, the Award honours outstanding literary achievements in the fields in which Czesław Miłosz wrote, as well as works of exceptional artistic and intellectual merit.
The Czesław Miłosz Literary Award was established to recognise the most distinguished achievements in contemporary Polish literature in the fields of poetry, essay writing and prose. Its patron, Czesław Miłosz, represents a standard of literary excellence, while the Award itself emphasises the importance of literature as a means of understanding and describing the world and human experience.
Citation for the Czesław Miłosz Literary Award to Krzysztof Pomian
The Jury of the Czesław Miłosz Literary Award has decided to present the inaugural Award to Krzysztof Pomian in recognition of his lifetime achievement – a body of humanistic work of exceptional intellectual stature and European significance which, for more than sixty years, has deepened our understanding of history, culture and humanity’s place within the community of civilisation.
Krzysztof Pomian’s work combines the erudition of a historian, the insight of a philosopher and the mastery of an outstanding essayist. His books transcend the boundaries of academic disciplines, presenting history as a space in which ideas, memory and experience meet, and culture as a fundamental dimension of human freedom.
Among the most important achievements of his writing are Europe and Its Nations – one of the most profound contemporary reflections on European identity and the shared destinies of the nations of our continent – Collectors and Curiosities, a work that permanently transformed the way we think about collecting, museums and objects as carriers of memory, and the monumental Museum: A World History, which presents the history of museums as a history of human knowledge, memory and responsibility for heritage.
As a historian of ideas, philosopher, museologist and writer, Krzysztof Pomian has helped shape contemporary European humanities, fostering a dialogue between the intellectual traditions of Central and Western Europe. Through his collaboration with Jerzy Giedroyc’s Paris-based Kultura, he belonged to the circle of thinkers who, during a period of political oppression, sustained a space for free thought and helped shape a vision of Poland as an integral part of the European community of culture.
Krzysztof Pomian’s body of work embodies the ideal of the humanities represented by Czesław Miłosz – a humanities that transcends the boundaries of states, languages and disciplines, and remains faithful to truth, freedom and responsibility for the word. His work teaches us that Europe is not merely a geographical space or a political project, but a community of memory and values sustained by a continuous dialogue between cultures.
In presenting the inaugural Czesław Miłosz Literary Award to Krzysztof Pomian, the Jury wishes to honour one of the most distinguished European humanists of our time and to express its conviction that work of this calibre sets the standard to which the Czesław Miłosz Literary Award aspires to remain faithful.
For a body of work that helps us understand humanity through history, history through culture, and Europe through the shared community of its memory and values, the Jury of the Czesław Miłosz Literary Award presents the inaugural Award to Krzysztof Pomian.
The Award Jury comprises Dr Tomasz Makowski, Director of the National Library of Poland and Chair of the Jury; Ryszard Krynicki, poet and translator; and Ewa Lipska, poet and writer.
The Award is sponsored by the Polish National Foundation.
