Photo by Wioletta Sobieraj, 2014

Tomasz Marek Sobieraj (born 1 July 1964 in Łódź, Poland) is a poet, short story writer, essayist, art and literary critic, fine art and social documentary photographer. Sobieraj studied geography at the University of Łódź, obtaining a master's degree in hydrology, and geographic information system at the University of Lisbon. Until 1999 he lectured geography and was a specialist in GIS and demography at the Statistical Office.

Sobieraj has published literary and photographic work in relevant arts and letters magazines in Poland, i.a.: Exit, Format, Twórczość, Lamus, Odra, Krytyka Literacka, Migotania, Akant, Fraza, Pisarze, Elewator, Szafa, Myśl Polska, Tygiel; outside Poland his poetry has appeared in literary magazines: The Seventh Quarry (UK/Wales), TekstOver (Ukraine), Immagine e Poesia (Italy), Korean Expatriate Literature - KEL (USA/Korea), День и Ночь/Day and Night (Russia), Shabdaguchha (USA), Raxnai-Chawder (Kurdistan/Iraq), Voices (Israel), Киïв/Kyiv (Ukraine), Bridging the Waters (USA), Syndic Literary Journal (USA); he has had photographic work exhibited widely, including prestigious Fotoseptiembre SAFOTO in the USA (Banal Objects, 2011, Instituto Cultural de Mexico, San Antonio, TX). In 2012 he received grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2013 he was nominated for the 2014 Prix Pictet – The Global Award in Photography and Sustainability. His poetry has been translated into English, Russian, Spanish, Danish, Kurdish, Italian, Korean and Ukrainian. In June 2019 his poetry has been presented at the New Poetry Series at The Yale Club of New York. 

Sobieraj sometimes uses pen names: Janusz Najder, Zygmunt Herman, Witold Egerth, Sozi, Georg A. Fichte.

He is the founder and editor-in-chief of "Krytyka Literacka" – arts and letters magazine.

Books

Gra (The Game, poetry), Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2008

Wojna Kwiatów (The War of the Flowers, poetry), Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2009

Dom Nadzoru (Panopticon, short stories, photography), Wyd. Adam Marszałek, Toruń, 2009

Ogólna teoria jesieni (General Theory of Autumn, micronovel), Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2010

Obiekty banalne (Banal Objects, photography, monodrama, essays; bilingual: Polish, English), Editions Sur Ner, Fotoseptiembre USA, Łódź, San Antonio, TX, 2011
Krawiec (The Tailor, narrative poem, drama), Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2012

Za bramami Ziemi Obiecanej (Behind the Gates of the Promised Land, photography; bilingual: Polish, English), Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2013
Финал Театра Креста (Finale of the Cross Theatre, poetry; bilingual: Russian, Polish translated into Russian by Andrei Bazilevski), Издательство »Вахазар«, Москва, Moscow, 2017
Dwoje na wzgórzu (Two on the Hill, poetry), Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2018
Fourteen Minutes (poetry, bilingual: English, Polish), translated by Erik La Prade, Cross-Cultural Communications, New York, 2019

Anthologies
Eroticon (Eroticon, photographs, poems), Wyd. Adam Marszałek, Toruń, 2010
Wbrew naturze (Against the Nature; short story The Turning Point), Amea, Liszki, 2010
Bridging the Waters II (poems, bilingual: Korean, English), CCC & KEL, New York, 2017
Literackie kosmografie Józefa Barana (essay), Księgarnia Akademicka, Kraków 2019

Broadsides
A View of Me From the Valley (Cross-Cultural Communications Broadside #66), New York, 2016
Grotto of Avernus (Cross-Cultural Communications Broadside #85), New York, 2016
People Without Eyelids (Cross-Cultural Communications Broadside #86), New York, 2016
Satisfaction (Cross-Cultural Communications Broadside #87), New York, 2016

Volumes of translation
David Day, Powrót Ulissesa - wiersze wybrane (Ulysses Homecoming - selected poems), bilingual, translated into Polish by Tomasz Marek Sobieraj and Jacek Świerk, Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2018
Stanley H. Barkan, Wiersze wybrane (Selected Poems), bilingual, translated into Polish by Adam Szyper, Tomasz Marek Sobieraj and Jacek Świerk, Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2018

William Wolak, The Homelessness of Water (Niczym nieskrępowana woda), bilingual, translated into Polish by Tomasz Marek Sobieraj and Jacek Świerk, New Feral Press, New York, 2019

David Day, A letter from the Hive (List z Ula), bilingual, translated into Polish by Jacek Świerk and Tomasz Marek Sobieraj, Editions Sur Ner, Łódź, 2020

William Heyen Whether Art Will Ever (Granice sztuki. Wiersze o Zagładzie), bilingual, translated into Polish by Tomasz Marek Sobieraj and Jacek Świerk, New Feral Press & Cross Cultural Communications, New York, 2021

Photographic essays, series, sequences

Kolosalna morda miasta (Colossal Mug of the City), 1998 – 2002

Pożądam tylko twojego ciała (I’m Only Lusting After Your Body), 2003

Enklawa (Enclave), 2004 – 2006
Krzyki (Cries), 2006

Masy kompozycyjne (Compositional Masses), 2006

Ulica Krokodyli (The Street of Crocodiles), 2007
Eroticon (Eroticon), 2009

Obiekty banalne (Banal Objects), 2006, 2010

Za bramami Ziemi Obiecanej (Behind the Gates of the Promised Land), 2012

Translations of poetry
Hassanal Abdullah, Rodaan Al Galidi, Li Bai, Stanley H. Barkan, Helen Bar-Lev, William Blake, Constantine P. Cavafy, Lidia Chiarelli, Yoon-Ho Cho, Rita Dahl, David Day, Shalaw Habiba, Niels Hav, William Heyen, Peter Thabit Jones, Laozi, Milagros Lopez, Nicanor Parra, Erik La Prade, Kyung-Nyun Kim Richards, Sirkka Turkka, Sander de Vaan, Bill Wolak

External links
Tomasz Marek Sobieraj in Gallery FF (exhibition "Theatrum prefunebris", essay by K. Jurecki, 2012, bilingual: Polish, English)
"Krytyka Literacka" arts and letters magazine
Behind the Gates of the Promised Land (website: Za bramami...)

Bill Wolak reading T.M. Sobieraj's poems, MP3: Man in the Cafe, People Without Eyelids, Syndic Literary Journal # 44, San Francisco, USA

Download

Free e-books by Tomasz Marek Sobieraj on Google Drive (including short stories, poems, photography, archival issues of Krytyka Literacka and unedited works).

Information
For purchase of limited edition archival quality prints please contact tom.sobier@gmail.com
Prints are in edition of 10, signed, titled, dated and numbered on verso by the artist.
Negatives were developed manually and scanned.

All photographs (including digital) were not digitally manipulated.

Author's Facebook

Author's selected photographs