Kaja Malanowska

About

Malanowska (born 1974) has published a short story collection and three novels, including “Fog”. Her debut novel, the autobiographical Drobne szaleństwa dnia codziennego [Small Madnesses of Everyday Life, 2010], established her as one of Poland’s most promising young writers. In 2012, her second novel Patrz na mnie, Klaro! [Look at Me, Klara!] was nominated for two of Poland’s most prestigious awards – Paszport Polityki and Nike (shortlist). Malanowska has been noted for her complex and realistic characters and her courage to address taboo subjects such as mental health or social and political justice issues. “Fog” is sort of experiment in writing for a broader readership: the fact that genre fiction functions according to strict parameters and is less forgiving than literary fiction challenged her to hone her craft as a writer. Malanowska is a columnist for the prominent left-wing intellectual periodical Krytyka polityczna (Political Critique) and has provoked public debate by highlighting the precarious conditions of writers in Poland. She holds a PhD in 2 bacterial genetics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and speaks fluent English. She is currently working on the prequel to “Fog” – a psychological thriller featuring the same female lead.

Books

Fog

Sale to TEXT

A young woman is found murdered in her Warsaw flat. The team of crime investigators – Marcin Sawicki and his new colleague, the talented but enigmatic Adela (Ada) Rochniewicz – are under pressure to close the case quickly. Convenient suspects include the woman’s cleaner, a Chechen refugee in desperate circumstances, or the victim’s jilted lover, a mentally unstable working-class youth. But consecutive plot twists reveal a darker and more complex truth that involves the corrupt political and religious establishment. Ada Rochniewicz manages the difficult case as confidently as she deals with her colleagues’ chauvinism. In this tightly constructed and plot-driven novel she provides a fascinating focus point: withdrawn, independent and haunted by a traumatic past, she knows that her intuition is a gift that comes at a price.

We accepted a preempt from Penny Hueston at TEXT Publishers for Kaja Malanowska's brilliant thriller FOG for World English rights, Bill Johnston is translating. All Foreign rights free.
“This book has everything that a good crime novel needs: a fast-paced plot, solidly constructed characters, surprising plot twists and an unforeseen ending. It’s really well cut and stitched with care, made to measure for our here an now.”- Olga Tokarczuk, Nike Literary award winner