Andrzej Sapkowski

Andrzej Sapkowski, born 21 June 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. His first short story, "The Witcher" ("Wiedźmin"), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of "The Witcher", comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.

The main character of the stories is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained since childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters. Geralt exists in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place owes much to J.R.R. Tolkien, while being also heavily influenced by Polish history and Slavic mythology.

Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "]Krew elfów" (Blood of the Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for "Muzykanci" (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year.

In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success.

In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Hexer (Wiedźmin). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Slovak and Portuguese. English translation of 'The Last Wish''' short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.

Polish game publisher CD Projekt is also working on a role-playing PC game based on this universe. Called The Witcher, it is due for release in 2007.

Short story collections

 * The Witcher (Wiedźmin) (1990)
 * The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) (1993, compr)
 * Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) (1992)
 * Something ends, Something begins (Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna) (2000)

The Witcher Saga

 * Blood of the Elves (Krew elfów) (1994)
 * Time of Disdain (Czas pogardy) (1995)
 * Baptism of Fire (Chrzest ognia) (1996)
 * The Swallow's Tower (Wieża Jaskółki) (1997)
 * Lady of the Lake (Pani Jeziora) (1999)

Narrenturm trilogy (or Hussite Trilogy)

 * Narrenturm (2002)
 * Warriors of God (Boży bojownicy) (2004)
 * Lux perpetua (2006)

Other works

 * The Eye of Yrrhedes (Oko Yrrhedesa) (1995), roleplaying game
 * The World of King Arthur. Maladie (Świat króla Artura. Maladie.) (1995), essay and a short story set in Arthurian mythology
 * Manuscript Discovered in a Dragon's Cave (Rękopis znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini) (2001), fantasy encyclopedic compendium