Liberated from Their Language: Polish Migrant Authors Publishing in English

The article opens with a brief analysis of the publishing industry in the UK and Ireland to provide an informed assessment of how difficult it is for Polish migrant authors to establish their presence on the local literary market. It proceeds to show how these writers have been amazingly persistent in their efforts to win British and Irish readership by, for example, participating in literary competitions, submitting their work to literary journals, collaborating with local writers or self-publishing their work. Then some attention is given to how the process of writing a book in a non-native language engages the writers: they tend to adjust their texts to the international readership, become involved in the translation process, try their hand at writing in a foreign language, and prepare bilingual advertising materials. Why they feel such a strong need to be published in English is a question broached in the next part of the article. Finally, the closing section explores how the fact that their writing is a translation influences the reception of the writers’ work