MJ Kazmierski

​​I currently live in Poland, although I grew up and have lived in the UK for the past 30 years, where I gained degrees in English Literature, Comparative Religion and Adult Literacy. My professional experience involves management of numerous private, public and non-profit workplaces, most recently as Head of Diversity at HMP Feltham and Managing Editor of Not Shut Up, a quarterly magazine representing “unfree art” in the UK and abroad.

 

I am a qualified university lecturer and Ministry of Justice diversity trainer. As a writer, translator and editor, my work has been published in the likes of 3AM Magazine, the Guardian, Poetry Wales and The White Review, while my short-form autobiography won the 2007 Penguin Decibel Prize. I have worked with organizations such as the British Council, English PEN, Southbank Centre and the Polish Cultural Institute.

 

I have translated numerous books of contemporary Polish poetry and prose, and have delivered lectures on the subject at various universities, including University College London, University of Gdansk and University of Lublin. I have initiated and managed a range of innovative cultural projects, including an ESOL creative writing programme for the Paul Hamlyn Trust, the independent publishing house OFF_PRESS and the eMigrating Landscapes project at the School of Slavonic and European Studies in London. 

 

 

PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS  

 

□     Shortlisted for the 2015 Griffin International Poetry Prize (translator) 
□     Official 2015 selection for European Literature Night (translator)      
□     Nominated for the Found in Translation Award 2014
□     Visegrad Literary Grant recipient 2013
□     eMigrating Landscapes Project (UCL) coordinator 2012 – 2014    
□     Polish Arts Festival coordinator 2011 – 2013
□     OFF_PRESS Founding Editor 2010 – present
□     English PEN Readers & Writers committee member 2009 – 2015
□     Ministry of Justice diversity manager and trainer 2006 – 2011
□     Certificate in Adult Literacy Education, post-grad diploma 2006
□     Creative Writing Project Leader for Paul Hamlyn Trust 2002 – 2006