Occupation novelist Role Writer | Name Joanna Olczak-Ronikier Citizenship Poland | |
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Notable works W ogrodzie pamieciKorczak. Proba biografii Books In The Garden of Memory: A Family Memoir Parents Tadeusz Olczak, Hanna Mortkowicz-Olczakowa Grandparents Janina Mortkowicz, Jakob Mortkowicz Nominations Nike Award: Audience Award | ||
Joanna Olczak-Roniker (born 12 November 1934) is a Polish writer and scenarist, co-founder of the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret in Cracow.
Biography
Joanna Olczak was born on 12 November 1934 in Warsaw to a Polish-Jewish family, as a daughter of Tadeusz Olczak and Hanna Mortkowicz (1905–1968), famous poet and writer. Her maternal grandmother Janina de domo Horwitz (1875–1960) also was a writer, while her husband Jakób Mortkowicz (1876–1931) was a book publisher. Joanna Olczak-Ronikier is also related with Maksymilian Horwitz, a politician, and Kamilla Kancewicz, a doctor.
In 1994 she wrote a monograph about Piwnica pod Baranami and four years later a biography od Piotr Skrzynecki, founder of this cabaret. Olczak-Ronikier is also an author of many dramas, including Ja-Napoleon (Teatr Dramatyczny, Warsaw; 1968) and Z biegiem lat, z biegiem dni... (Teatr Stary, Cracow; 1978).
In 2002 her memoir about her family's history W ogrodzie pamięci won the Nike Award and in 2011 she received the Klio Award for Janusz Korczak biography, Korczak. Próba biografii.
She was married twice: with a German journalist Ludwig Zimmerer (1924–1987), they had one daughter, Katarzyna Zimmerer (born in 1961); and with a Polish translator Michał Ronikier (born in 1939).