Nobel poet Szymborska ‘crime thriller’ discovered

photo - Mariusz Kubik Wikicommons CC

Michal Rusinek discovered the work while going through the poet's flat in Krakow, southern Poland, in the wake of Szymborska's death on 1 February.

The crime thriller is entitled Blysk Rewolweru (Gleam of the Revolver) and the secretary described the work as “a sort of early Agatha Christie.”

Szymborska's foray into crime fiction was apparently written when she was still a schoolgirl, but Rusinek revealed that the story will not be prepared for publication.

He told the RMF FM radio station however that the work will become a part of the poet's archives.

Rusinek hopes that Szymborska's papers will be lodged in a prospective museum of literature in the poet's home town of Krakow.

City authorities have given their support for such a project.

Szymborska, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996, left her entire archives under the care of a posthumous foundation, of which Rusinek is a key member.

Meanwhile, Szymborska's last volume of poems, which Rusinek described as “a literary treasure”, is due for publication on 20 April. (nh/pg)