Czeslaw Milosz, 1996; photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Krakow has kicked off a week-long festival under the umbrella of Czeslaw Milosz Year, celebrating the life and work of the late Nobel Prize laureate.

“It's the most important phase in Poland's celebrations of Milosz Year,” said Grzegorz Gauden, director of the Polish Book Institute, which is coordinating the events.

Distinguished figures from the international literary world will be descending on Krakow throughout the week, and a series of lectures, debates and readings are set to take place in churches, synagogues, university halls and elsewhere.

Czeslaw Milosz would have been 100 years-old this year. The writer, who defected to the West in 1951, had flirted with communism but delivered one of its most memorable critiques in his seminal book The Captive Mind (1953).

The work was banned in Poland, but it circulated on the underground and was regularly aired during illicit readings in churches and other venues.

Milosz, whose poetry has gained aficionados across the globe, was born in lands that are part of present-day Lithuania. He settled in Krakow after the fall of communism, having taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley.

In June and July, Poland and Lithuania will conduct joint celebrations, whilst throughout the year, individual events are due to be hosted in numerous countries around the globe. (nh)

For information on Milosz Year see here.