Andrzej Sapkowski

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Andrzej Sapkowski (Template:IPA; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer. He is best known for his series of books The Witcher, which revolves around the eponymous monster-hunter, Geralt of Rivia. The saga has been popularized through television, stage, comic books, video games and translated into 37 languages making him the second most-translated Polish science fiction and fantasy writer after Stanisław Lem.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Described as the "Polish Tolkien",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> he has written multiple novels and short story collections, selling over 30 million copies worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The influence of Slavic mythology is seen as a characteristic feature of many of his works.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is a five-time recipient of the Zajdel Award, Poland's most popular science fiction and fantasy prize, as well as many other awards and honors including David Gemmell Award, World Fantasy Life Achievement Award and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture.

Sapkowski novels on display occupying two shelves at an Empik bookstore in Katowice, Poland

Early life

He was born on 21 June 1948 in Łódź, in central Poland. His father served in the Polish People's Army and participated in the Battle of Berlin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the end of World War II, his parents lived near Nowa Sól before settling in Łódź.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He attended the Bolesław Prus High School No. 21.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also studied economics at the University of Łódź, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. He started his literary career as a translator, in particular, of science fiction. Among the first works translated by him was The Words of Guru by Cyril M. Kornbluth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Major works

He says he wrote his first short story, Template:Ill (1986), ("Wiedźmin", also translated "The Hexer" or "Spellmaker"), on a whim, in order to enter a contest by Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka. In an interview, he said that being a businessman at the time and thus familiar with marketing, he knew how to sell, and indeed, he won third prize.<ref>НО МЫ ЖЕ СЛАВЯНЕ! РАЗГОВОР С АНДЖЕЕМ САПКОВСКИМ, An interview with Sapkowski for Russian monthly magazine "World of Fatnastics"</ref> The story was published in Fantastyka in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of "The Witcher", comprising three collections of short stories and eight novels. This cycle and his other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.<ref name=mo/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The main character of "The Witcher" is Geralt of Rivia, trained as a monster hunter since childhood. Geralt exists in a morally ambiguous universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe.<ref name=mo>Template:In lang Marek Oramus Jedynie słuszny wizerunek wiedźmina Template:Webarchive, Polityka – nr 36 (2261) from 2000-09-02; pp. 52–54</ref> The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology.<ref>The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski , fantasybookreview</ref>

In her review of Blood of Elves, Alice Wybrew of Total Sci-Fi writes that "Moving effortlessly between moments of wrought emotion and staggeringly effective action, to lengthy periods of political discussion and war stratagems, Sapkowski addresses every aspect of a good fantasy novel eloquently and with ease. His style reads as easily as David Gemmel, but hits harder and deeper than his late fantasy comrade. Creating a world that is both familiar and comfortable, it is through his inventive use of character manipulation that he generates a new and realistic experience".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Alex Jay of Polygon further observes that within Sapkowski's fantasy tales, "there are parallels to the complicated history of ethnic strife and resistance to oppression in Central and Eastern Europe". The depictions of the disputes between nonhumans and humans "echo real-world disputes over territory and citizenship that draw dividing lines according to race, nationality, or ethnicity".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2001, he published the Manuscript Found in a Dragon's Cave, an original and personal guide to fantasy literature. It was written in the form of an encyclopaedia and the author discusses in it the history of the literary genre, well-known fantasy heroes, descriptions of magic terminology as well as major works of notable writers including J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Robert E. Howard's Conan, C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea, Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, and George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sapkowski's next book series was the Hussite Trilogy set in the 15th century at the time of the Hussite Wars with Reinmar of Bielawa as the main protagonist. Mariusz Czubaj writes:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Although the Hussite Trilogy proved less popular compared to The Witcher, it has been described as the author's "magnum opus". Published between 2002 and 2006, the series was released as an audiobook in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In August 2023, Sapkowski announced he was working on a new novel from The Witcher universe during an on-line meeting with his Ukrainian fans. He added that his work on the book "may take a year, but no longer" giving it a potential expected publication date at some point in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The novel, titled Rozdroże Kruków, was published in Poland in November 2024, and will release internationally as Crossroads of Ravens in September 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2018, he sent an open letter to CD Projekt demanding 60 million zloty ($16.1 million) in royalty payments from the company for using the Witcher universe in their computer games.<ref name="wyborcza_23992478">Template:Cite web</ref> The letter was written despite the fact that Sapkowski had sold the video game rights to the Witcher for a single sum, rather than through a royalties contract. Sapkowski and his lawyers based their claims on Article 44 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act.<ref name="wyborcza_23992478"/>

CD Projekt released a statement claiming that the author's demands are groundless and that the company had legitimately and legally acquired copyright to Sapkowski's works. His decision was criticized by many commentators and gaming journalists including Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author of Metro 2033, who described him as "an old fool" and noted that without the gaming franchise, the Witcher series "would never get this crazy international readership" and would have remained popular only in Central and Eastern Europe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 20 December 2019, the writer and the company resolved the dispute with an amicable settlement. The company stated this deal was made in an effort "to maintain good relations with authors of works which have inspired CD Projekt Red's own creations." The details of this arrangement were not made public.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Andrzej Sapkowski at the 2010 World Book Fair in Prague, Czech Republic

Sapkowski resides in his hometown of Łódź in central Poland. He had a son named Krzysztof (1972–2019), who was an avid reader of the Polish Fantastyka magazine, and for whom he wrote the first Witcher story; Krzysztof has since passed away.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sapkowski is a member of the Polish Writers Association.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In an interview, he mentioned that his favorite writers included Ernest Hemingway, Mikhail Bulgakov, Raymond Chandler and Umberto Eco.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2005, Stanisław Bereś conducted a lengthy interview with Sapkowski that was eventually published in a book form as Historia i fantastyka.<ref name="hif">Template:Cite web</ref>

Translations and adaptations of Sapkowski's works

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Persian,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Ukrainian.

In English, his official debut was Template:Ill from his The Witcher universe that was published in 2000 in a small press anthology Chosen by Fate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An English translation of The Last Wish short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 2008, the Witcher saga is published by Gollancz.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The English translation of Sapkowski's novel Blood of Elves won the David Gemmell Legend Award in 2009.<ref name="gemmellAward">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Alison Flood, Gemmell prize for fantasy goes to Polish novel, Blood of Elves, Guardian, Friday 19 June 2009</ref>

In the years between 1993 and 1995, a six-issue comic book series entitled The Witcher was released in the Komiks magazine by Prószyński i S-ka publishing house. The comic was written by Maciej Parowski and illustrated by Bogusław Polch. The comics were the first attempt to portray the Witcher universe outside the novels.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> Since 2014, a comic book series The Witcher has been published by the American publisher Dark Horse Comics. The stories presented in the series are mostly originals, written not by Andrzej Sapkowski but by other writers; the exception being volume 2, Fox Children, which adapted a story from the anthology Season of Storms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2001, a television series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2009, Russian heavy metal band Esse staged The Road with No Return, a rock opera based on the works by Sapkowski. Yevgeny Pronin is the author of the libretto and the composer of much of the opera's music. The premiere of the opera took place the same year in Rostov-on-Don and was subsequently released as a DVD in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Polish game developer, CD Projekt Red, created a role-playing game series based on The Witcher universe. The first game, titled simply The Witcher, was first released in October 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The sequel, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was released in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The third game in the trilogy, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, was released in May 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The game shipped over 40 million copies, making it one of the best selling video games of all time.

In May 2017, Netflix commissioned The Witcher, an English-language adaptation of the book series. The Witcher television series premiered on Netflix on 20 December 2019. Sapkowski served for a while as a creative consultant on the project.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The popularity of the Netflix show led to Sapkowski topping Amazon's list of best-selling authors ahead of J.K. Rowling and Stephen King.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An spin-off animated film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, premiered in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A second spinoff animation, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, was released on February 11 2025, adapting the short story A Little Sacrifice from the collection Sword of Destiny.

In September 2017, a musical Wiedźmin (The Witcher) directed by Wojciech Kościelniak premiered at the Musical Theatre in Gdynia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Witcher: Blood Origin is a fantasy miniseries created by Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich adapted from The Witcher book series which serves as a prequel to the Netflix television series. It was released on Netflix in December 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and recognition

Sapkowski is a recipient of numerous awards and honours both Polish and foreign including:

Decorations

2014</ref>

2025</ref>

Bibliography

The Witcher Saga

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Short story collections

  • The Witcher (Template:Ill, 1986), five stories. It is currently out of print. However, four of its stories were reprinted in The Last Wish along with new material, while the fifth story was reprinted in Something ends, Something begins and The Malady and Other Stories.
  • Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia, 1992), six stories. English edition: 2015<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie, 1993), seven stories. English edition: 2007 (in US: 2008).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Its stories (including both its original stories and the stories which it republishes from The Witcher) take place before Sword of Destiny even though it was published later.
  • The short story "The Hexer" in the English anthology Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology (by SuperNOVA in cooperation with the Silesian Club of Fantasy Literature, 2000) is an English translation by Agnieszka Fulińska of the short story "The Witcher" which had previously been published in Polish in The Witcher and The Last Wish. The Last Wish was later translated into English in full.
  • The short story "Spellmaker" in the English anthology A Polish Book of Monsters (edited and translated by Michael Kandel, 2010) is another translation of the short story "The Witcher" which had previously been published in The Witcher, The Last Wish, and Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology.<ref name="rev">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Something Ends, Something Begins (Template:Ill, 2000), 8 stories. Only two of its stories are related to The Witcher saga ("A Road with No Return" and the titular "Something Ends, Something Begins").
  • The Malady and Other Stories (Template:Ill, 2012), 10 stories. It includes the eight stories from Something ends, Something begins plus two new stories that aren't related to The Witcher saga. The contents of the English translation is different, containing excerpts from the first and third novels, two stories from The Last Wish, and the titular short story.

Pentalogy

Prequel novels

Hussite Trilogy

Standalone novel

Other works

  • The Eye of Yrrhedes (Oko Yrrhedesa, 1995), roleplaying game
  • The World of King Arthur. Maladie (Świat króla Artura. Maladie, 1995), essay and an illustrated short story set in Arthurian mythology
  • Manuscript Found in a Dragon's Cave (Rękopis znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini, 2001, 2008, 2011 (expanded)), fantasy encyclopedic compendium

See also

References

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