Grażyna Plebanek is a woman whose life and work weave together different worlds. It’s a paradox – one that is as fascinating as it is full of contradictions, which form something more than just a collection of stories. She’s not only a writer, essayist, and screenwriter, but above all, a woman whose strength and sensitivity radiate from every book, from every word she writes. I have the privilege of writing about her, trying to understand who Grażyna Plebanek is – not only through the lens of her literature but also her life.

Grażyna is a woman who, in her writing, delves deep into the female experience – from intimacy and the struggle for independence to reflections on identity in a multicultural world. When we talk about Grażyna, two important places in her life must be mentioned: Poland, which she remains emotionally connected to, and Brussels, where she has settled, discovering a new side of herself. Brussels became the space where Plebanek began to see herself as an ambassador of women’s strength and diversity. But Poland is always present – in the language, in the gestures, in the understanding. “Poland is within me and always will be,” she repeats, as it is the Polish language that serves as the link to her homeland, despite living abroad for many years.

Looking at her life, one could say she’s constantly on a journey – both literal and metaphorical. Living between continents, between cultures – from Poland, through Europe, to Africa – has made her aware of the power a woman can carry within herself. Her literary characters, much like herself, are women fighting for their place in the world. Independent, though not without doubts, their strength mirrors the sea – which, like Grażyna, is both calm and turbulent. “A woman who writes is free,” she says, convinced that writing is not just an intellectual process, but a spiritual act that brings freedom.

But Plebanek is also an author who has never ceased to be natural. Although she has traveled through different worlds – from the streets of Brussels to African villages – she remains true to herself. It is her femininity, rooted in naturalness and authenticity, that attracts the people she meets along her journey. In Africa, she learned that women, no matter where they live, carry a strength they may not even be aware of. There, she understood that strength doesn’t always show itself in a loud voice – it is often quiet but deep, and it’s this strength that helps one endure the hardest of times.

Kołobrzeg. The Baltic Sea. It is here, surrounded by nature, that Plebanek finds the space where she can pause, listen to herself, and feel that she belongs to Poland. Walking along the shore, breathing in the sea air, she reconnects with her roots. It’s there, by the Baltic, that she feels naturalness and strength aren’t opposites, but two sides of the same coin. “Here, where the land meets the water, I feel that I truly belong,” she says. Her journey between Poland and the world isn’t an escape – it’s a return to herself.

Writing this essay about Grażyna Plebanek, I feel like a character from one of her books. My words describing her are, in a sense, her words – a reflection of her way of seeing the world. It’s a paradox that I, Krzysztof Kubicki, am trying to capture in words the life and work of someone as multidimensional as Grażyna Plebanek. But it is precisely this paradox that makes this task so unique.

Grażyna is a woman whose strength, wisdom, and literary courage draw in those who want to discover what it means to be oneself – in a world full of contradictions.

Author: Krzysztof Kubicki