Ewa Maria Slaska and „Wyspa“

Biographical data :

• Ewa Maria Slaska was born on 2nd September 1949 in Sopot (Poland).
• 1967 - 1968    Reads Polish studies at the Educational High school in Danzig
• 1968 - 1970    Reads ethnography and ethnology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan
• 1970 - 1974    Reads archaeology at the Adam Mickiewicz Universität in Poznan
• 1974 - 1976    Lecturer in Early History at the Adam Mickiewicz Universität in Poznan
• from 1974      Freelance journalist
• 1979                Receives a grant for cultural workers in Rome (Italy)
• since 1979     Actively involved in the Polish opposition movement
• 1981                Editor of “My” (We) the weekly magazine published by “Solidarność“ in Danzig
• 1981                 Literary book debut “Portret z ametystem“ (Portrait with Amethyst)
• 1983 - 1985   PR officer for Format, the Association of Designers in Danzig
• 1985                Emigrates to West Berlin
• 1985                Her novel “Dochodzenie“ (Investigation) is published by the renowned exile publisher “Kultura“ in Paris
• 1986                Her application for asylum is granted
• 1986                Receives an artists grant from the Berlin Senate
• 1985 - 1988   Founder and head of the Polish independent television programme “Wyspa“/the Island) for the Open Channel Berlin
• 1987 - 1994   Social worker for the German Red Cross in Berlin
• 1994                Receives an artists grant from the Berlin Senate; project coordinator for the German-Polish Society; founder of the Society for the Promotion of German-Polish Literature “WIR“; editor-in-chief of the literature edition “WIR“ (till 2013)
• since 1994    Freelance journalist, translator and project organiser
• 1995 - 1996   Lecturer in life skills for the Humanist Association Germany
• 1995 - 1999   Worker and head of the project “German-Polish Poets’ Steamship”
• 1998 - 1999   Project coordinator – New Society for Literature (Poets’ Steamship, Fairytale Days)
• 1999                Regular employment with SFB 4 MultiKulti in Polish and with the newspaper “Kurier Szczecinski“; receives her first UNESCO grant for writers – stay in the Writers and Translators House in Rhodes (Greece)
• 2000 - 2001  Trains as a lecturer in New Media at the German Business Further Training Academy
• 2000                Second UNESCO grant for writers – in Rhodes (Greece)
• 2001                Works on the project “Coming-Going-Staying” in Gubin; third UNESCO grant for writers – stay in the Writers and Translators House in Visby (Sweden)
• 2001-2006     Project head, PR and web design for the Kreuzberg Musical Action group
• 2003                6th German-Polish journalist prize; fourth UNESCO grant for writers in Rhodes (Greece)
• 2004                Organises the Polish Days within the framework of the Sixth International Literature Festival Berlin (ilb); helps create the art project “StarterKompakt – Polish for Beginners“
• 2005                PR coordinator for the German-Polish project “Paths to the Future. An archaeological Festival in the museum village of- Düppel” - a project for the German-Polish year 2005/2006
• 2006                Her novel “Piękne dni w Visby“ (Fine Days in Visby) is published by “Prószynski & Ska“ in Warsaw
• 2007 - 2009   Project worker at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin
• 2007 - 2014   Project worker for “Urban Partner Stettin”, and deputy chair
• 2008 - 2010   Evaluator in the integration project for SPI-Berlin and the German Ministry of Labour and Social Services
• 2009 - 2011   Coordinator for the federal project “Diversity feels fine”
• 2012 - 2013   Translator for Bertelsmann and Chal-Tec
• since 2012       Administrator and editor-in-chief of a blog mainly dealing with cultural and social matters in German, Polish and English (ewamaria2013); actively involved in the work of a working party on “Church Forced Labour Camps”
• 2013                Worker and writer for the exhibition entitled “The Beauty of the Blind”; curator of the German-Polish exhibition “Polish Graves in Berlin and German Graves in Stettin” (Berlin June/July and Stettin August/September)
• 2014                Work on her book “My Family – the Lives of Eight Generations of Assimilated Jews in Poland and Elsewhere”; academic work (lectures, congress appearances, publications) on the theme of Poland and Jews in the First World War