One of Poland’s major publishing houses
In June 2021 Dominika Kozłowska became the President of the Znak Social Publishing Institute, taking over from Henryk Woźniakowski, who spent 30 years at the helm of the company. He followed Jerzy Turowicz as the President. During their time Znak was transformed from a modest-sized publishing house into one of the largest ones in Poland.
The Znak management board also includes Tomasz Gancarz and Sylwia Wcisło.
Dominika Kozłowska is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Znak monthly,
a journalist and social activist, a doctor of philosophy. She is a member
of the programme board of the European Solidarity Centre, as well as the
Council for Equal Treatment by the Mayor of Krakow. She won the Special
Dariusz Ficus Award in 2017. She has worked at Znak for over a dozen years.
Tomasz Gancarz has worked at Znak for almost 20 years; including a dozen or so on the company's management board and as the Planning and Development Director.
Sylwia Wcisło has been associated with Znak for over 20 years; in recent years she has developed the Znak Literanova imprint, where she was the Publishing Director. Previously she was also the Director of the Marketing Department. She served on the governing board of the Tischner European University. On the newly appointed board of Znak she took the position of the General Director.
Znak’s committed team successfully launch literary careers and initiate public debate, while continuing to publish and promote bestselling books, such as fiction by Wiesław Myśliwski, Zadie Smith, Eduardo Mendoza and Marek Krajewski, and works of reportage by Wojciech Jagielski. Our authors also include Anna Ficner-Ogonowska, Emily Giffin, Richard Paul Evans, Sara Shepard and many others. In confidence we can add that we have also signed contracts with a future Pope and with another Nobel prize-winner. Miesięcznik Znak, the monthly periodical, keeps its finger on the pulse of contemporary culture, devoting special issues to themes of topical interest. Znak’s greatest assets are creativity, diversity and courage.
Thanks to these special qualities, Znak publishes a wide assortment of books, covering a variety of genres aimed at every kind of reader. To broaden its range, Znak has founded an imprint called Wydawnictwo Otwarte (“Open Publishing”), which issues popular literature, and the Woblink platform providing e-books. Its community service, lubimyczytac.pl, offers recommendations tailored to the individual reader’s taste, allows him or her to find people with similar literary preferences, to read and write reviews, evaluate books and find information about the authors.
Znak is not limited to publishing alone – as well as being a publishing house, it also provides an environment for culture to flourish, by offering a wide variety of events and meetings for its authors, readers and friends. In this context it has established the Znak Foundation for Christian Culture, which acts as a forum for dialogue between culture and religion, the “Znaczy się” Foundation for New Art, and the Father Józef Tischner European Academy. Znak has also initiated some special literary events in a series called "Meet the Masters"" (preceded by the activities of Znak’s "Flying University"), and jointly organises annual festivals to commemorate the work of Józef Tischner and Czesław Miłosz. In addition, it is probably the only publishing house in the world that regularly stages fabulous cabaret shows by drawing on its authors’ and employees’ hidden talents.
Mission
Being a modern publishing house, we have been reaching – for over 5 decades – an ever wider reading audience with books that are outstanding, revealing, and cater for people’s cognitive, religious, aesthetic, and entertaining needs. We create a space for discussion and presentation of thinking that is important, often difficult for humans living in a world of conflicting values. In our choices, we are guided by responsibility, while respecting the traditions and the roots which define us. Znak is not just a publishing house, but also the people, who co-create culture with their everyday commitment, relying on a professionally organised and friendly working environment.
We wish to reach anyone in search of knowledge, entertainment, and profound experience. Our mission is to understand the needs of our readers and offer them texts which satisfy their expectations in an honest and professional way, without offending their dignity and good taste.
We wish to co-develop a space for dialogue between Christianity and modern culture, by invoking our tradition and identity, as rooted in the writings of Józef Tischner, Czesław Miłosz, Karol Wojtyła and the Founding Fathers of Znak. Today, we have enriched the tradition with names of distinguished authors of fiction, non-fiction, and historical literature. In parallel, we are dynamically expanding our offer of popular books, offering our readers high-quality entertainment and an opportunity to participate in international events.
We also wish to contribute to the development of reading by encouraging young people to read. It is for them that we prepare modern editions of classic literature, in addition to popular titles, which develop their imagination and aesthetic sensitivity.
Our role is to guide readers so that they can tell beauty from kitsch, truth from delusion, ordered knowledge from information noise, entertainment from vulgarity. Consequently, we do not publish contents which are merely intended to stun the reader with nihilism, violence, sex, and to provoke them or appeal to their low instincts.
Znak is a place where the values we have developed since our establishment drive our strong commitment to seeking new thematic areas, innovative solutions, and modern forms of expression. Znak means also the communities associated with our foundations and Znak monthly. Our most reliable values are our readers’ trust and the team spirit of all our staff, who keep building our brand in a synergic way, while respecting the history of Znak and the people who have created it.
As part of Znak’s development and continued expansion of its list, in
2010 the Board of Directors established three new imprints: Znak, Znak
Literanova and Znak Emotikon. In 2014 Znak Horyzont came into being.
All these initiatives form a group that has grown into one of Poland’s
biggest and most prestigious publishing houses.
FOREIGN RIGHTS DEPARTMENT:
Ewa Bolińska-Gostkowska
Foreign Rights
Manager
bolinska
znak.com.pl
T: + 48 12 61 99 524