In a village in the remote countryside of southern Poland, it’s as if the poverty and brutality emanate like mist from the cursed dirt. The thirteen interconnected stories in White Nights tell of families, scarred by tragedy but also by each other. Whether by digging a pond deep in the woods, taking a lover, raising a family, or simply trying to get ahead of the endless work as the thunder rolls over their home, Urszula Honek’s characters share, with the sincerest care and honesty, a local-yet so clearly universal-story of ruin and hope. Kate Webster’s blazing translation of Urszula’s poetic and earthen prose brings us to places seldom seen in literature, where the people do not ask to be understood, but merely to be heard.

Author Biography

In addition to White Nights, Urszula Honek is the author of three poetry books, each of which received numerous awards. She has held scholarships from the Maria Anna Siemieńska Grazella Foundation (2016), as well as from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2017). Urszula also received the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature Prize, in 2020, and the Adam Wlodek Prize, in 2021. Biale noce, (White Nights), her first prose collection, was nominated for both Polityka’s Passport Award and the Grand Continent Prize, in 2022, and in 2023 it was nominated for the Witold Gombrowicz Literary Prize and won the Conrad Award. Urszula has also won the Kościelski Award, which is given to the most promising Polish writer under the age of 40.

Kate Webster translates from Polish into English, specializing in literature, the arts and academia. She has translated many short stories and essays for publication in anthologies and online and, in September 2018, took part in the Emerging Translator Mentorship Programme organized by the National Centre for Writing, where she was mentored by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Her first book-length translation was a translation from the Polish of Mapa by Barbara Sadurska, published by Terra Librorum in 2022. Her translation was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 2023.

We are committed to protecting your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and working with our suppliers to assist with warranty claims. Products sold by Mighty Ape will be covered by a Manufacturer's Warranty for at least a one-year period from the date of purchase.

Your warranty will cover any manufacturing defects which, if existing, will present themselves within this warranty period.

Your warranty will not cover normal wear and tear, faults caused by misuse, and accidents which cause damage or theft caused after delivery. Using the product in a way it is not designed for will void your warranty.

Please refer to our Help Centre for more information.