This year’s Book Expo America was held in Chicago, May 11-14, and Poland was the designated guest of honor at this huge and prestigious event. Alongside the Polish Book Institute, who organized part of the Polish exhibit, the Los Angeles based publisher Aquila Polonica participated with its series of fascinating and beautifully produced books about history of Poland during World War II. On the coattails of Aquila Polonica’s invitation and thanks to its owner, Terry Tegnazian, several titles from the Polish Music Center’s Polish Music History Series found some space on the shelves of the Polish stand at BEA. PMC Director Marek Zebrowski travelled to Chicago to present the PMC’s books on leading Polish composers and took the opportunity to promote his own related titles, including Celebrating Chopin and Paderewski, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Paderewski in California, published by the Tumult Foundation in Toruń, and a series of CAMERIMAGE Film Festival volumes on directors and cinematographers, also published by Tumult.
Two of Aquila Polonica’s authors—John Guzlowski and Julian Kulski—were on hand to introduce their work at BEA. Guzlowski’s poetry collection, Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded, is a deeply moving tribute to a Polish family that survived Nazi labor camps during the war, years in refugee camps after the war, and the eventual resettlement in the United States, where Guzlowski’s parents and sister moved in the early 1950s. Julian Kulski’s memoir, The Color of Courage, describes his ordeal as a fourteen-year old Boy Scout who fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, endured Nazi POW camps as a teenager, and also finally emigrated to the U.S. after spending the immediate post war years finishing high school in England.
Guzlowski, Kulski and Zebrowski gave presentations on their books during the BEA and held signings at several events during the convention’s last day, when the doors to a cavernous exhibit hall at McCormack Place were open to the public. Together with Terry Tegnazian, the authors also gave presentations at the Copernicus Institute in Chicago and participated in interviews for Radio Deon/Chicago conducted by a young and intrepid reporter and filmmaker, Rafał Muskała—visit deon24.com to listen to the interviews (in Polish).
Overall, it was a very productive trip for all concerned, with several opportunities to address the large Polish diaspora in Chicago and introduce them with titles about Frederic Chopin, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski, Zygmunt Stojowski, as well as two women composers and virtuoso performers: Grażyna Bacewicz and Maria Szymanowska. Scores of booksellers, distributors, librarians and other industry professionals had, likewise, a chance to become familiar with the Polish Music Center, its staff and collaborators, and its publications.