Sylwia Chutnik


Sylwia Chutnik is a Polish novelist, writer, feminist and social activist.

Life

Chutnik graduated in gender studies at Warsaw University. In 2018 she defended her PhD at the Institute of Polish Culture at Warsaw University. In 2020 she came out in an interview for an LGBTQIA magazine "Replika", talking about her long-term relationship with a man, subsequent relationship with a woman, and being a non-heteronormative mother in Poland.

Career

Her debut novel Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet was published in 2008. Her second novel Dzidzia came out in 2010. She is also a Warsaw city guide and a charity worker. She has published a Warsaw guidebook, called Warszawa kobiet which guides people around the lesser known parts of the city where famous women who used to live.
She is the chairperson of MaMa Foundation which aims to improve the situation of mothers' rights in Poland. Chutnik is a member of an informal group "8 March Women's Coalition".
In her works she focuses on feminism and gender issues, Polish culture and history.
Chutnik is a member of The Polish Writers' Association. She hosted a TV literary programme "Cappuccino z książką", and "Zapomniani-odzyskani".
She has been writing columns to a weekly magazine "Polityka" since 2016. Chutnik writes a column in "Gazeta Stołeczna" and a women magazine "Pani".

Awards

Chutnik was recognized by many institutions for her literary achievements as well as social work. She was awarded by Ashoka for her social work. It is a so-called social workers' Nobel. She is a laureate of the Lady of Warsaw 2007 competition, and won the Wawoactive 2008 contest. Chutnik has been nominated for the Nike Literary Award three times so far. In 2009 she became the laureate of Paszport Polityki Award for her literary works. She became a scholarship holder of Homines Urbani, a laureate of the Lithuanian Books Institute, a laureate of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the City of Warsaw, and the Goethe Institute.

Books