Bill Johnston (born 1960) is a prolific
Polish language literary translator[1] and professor of
comparative literature at
Indiana University. His work has helped to expose English-speaking readers to classic and contemporary Polish poetry and fiction. In 2008 he received the Found in Translation Award for his translation of new poems by
Tadeusz Różewicz;[2] this book was also a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Poetry Award.
In 1999, he was awarded a
National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship for Poetry (Translation) for Balladina by
Juliusz Słowacki, and in 2005 he received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for a translation of The Coming Spring by
Stefan Żeromski. He is a recipient of the
Amicus Poloniae award, presented by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland (2003), the Diploma of the Polish Foreign Ministry (2004), and the Officer's
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2012) for outstanding contribution to the promotion of the Polish culture and language in the U.S., as well as the development of Polish-American cultural cooperation. In 2005, his translation of
Magdalena Tulli's Dreams and Stones won the Translation Award of AATSEEL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages). His translation of Stone Upon Stone by
Wiesław Myśliwski won the 2012
PEN Translation Prize, the 2012
Best Translated Book Award and the AATSEEL Book Award for Best Literary Translation into English.
Johnston read Modern Languages at the University of Oxford (
University College) and graduated in 1982. He earned his Ph.D in Second Language Acquisition from the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Mariusz Grzebalski: Six poems. In M. Baran (Ed.): Carnivorous Boy and Carnivorous Bird: Poems by Polish Poets Born After 1958, pages 297–307. Brookline, Massachusetts: Zephyr Press. 2004.
Krzysztof Koehler: Six poems. In M. Baran (Ed.): Carnivorous Boy and Carnivorous Bird: Poems by Polish Poets Born After 1958, pages 147–159. Brookline, Massachusetts: Zephyr Press. 2004.
Tadeusz Pióro: Four poems. In M. Baran (Ed.): Carnivorous Boy and Carnivorous Bird: Poems by Polish Poets Born After 1958, pages 58–65. Brookline, Massachusetts: Zephyr Press. 2004.
Johnston, B. Introduction: The poetry of
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński. In Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, White Magic and Other Poems (B. Johnston, trans.). Los Angeles, CA: Green Integer. In press.
2012:
AATSEEL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages) Award for Best Literary Translation into English, for Stone Upon Stone by
Wiesław Myśliwski
2012: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit, awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland
Bill Johnston (born 1960) is a prolific
Polish language literary translator[1] and professor of
comparative literature at
Indiana University. His work has helped to expose English-speaking readers to classic and contemporary Polish poetry and fiction. In 2008 he received the Found in Translation Award for his translation of new poems by
Tadeusz Różewicz;[2] this book was also a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Poetry Award.
In 1999, he was awarded a
National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship for Poetry (Translation) for Balladina by
Juliusz Słowacki, and in 2005 he received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for a translation of The Coming Spring by
Stefan Żeromski. He is a recipient of the
Amicus Poloniae award, presented by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland (2003), the Diploma of the Polish Foreign Ministry (2004), and the Officer's
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2012) for outstanding contribution to the promotion of the Polish culture and language in the U.S., as well as the development of Polish-American cultural cooperation. In 2005, his translation of
Magdalena Tulli's Dreams and Stones won the Translation Award of AATSEEL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages). His translation of Stone Upon Stone by
Wiesław Myśliwski won the 2012
PEN Translation Prize, the 2012
Best Translated Book Award and the AATSEEL Book Award for Best Literary Translation into English.
Johnston read Modern Languages at the University of Oxford (
University College) and graduated in 1982. He earned his Ph.D in Second Language Acquisition from the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Mariusz Grzebalski: Six poems. In M. Baran (Ed.): Carnivorous Boy and Carnivorous Bird: Poems by Polish Poets Born After 1958, pages 297–307. Brookline, Massachusetts: Zephyr Press. 2004.
Krzysztof Koehler: Six poems. In M. Baran (Ed.): Carnivorous Boy and Carnivorous Bird: Poems by Polish Poets Born After 1958, pages 147–159. Brookline, Massachusetts: Zephyr Press. 2004.
Tadeusz Pióro: Four poems. In M. Baran (Ed.): Carnivorous Boy and Carnivorous Bird: Poems by Polish Poets Born After 1958, pages 58–65. Brookline, Massachusetts: Zephyr Press. 2004.
Johnston, B. Introduction: The poetry of
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński. In Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, White Magic and Other Poems (B. Johnston, trans.). Los Angeles, CA: Green Integer. In press.
2012:
AATSEEL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages) Award for Best Literary Translation into English, for Stone Upon Stone by
Wiesław Myśliwski
2012: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit, awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland