Rafał Skarżycki

Rafał Skarżycki was born in Warsaw in 1977. He studied philosophy, and became known in Poland and abroad through Jeż Jerzy (tr: George the Hedgehog), a comic figure he invented together with the illustrator Tomasz Lew Leśniak. The first episode of »Jeż Jerzy« appeared in the journal »Ślizg« in 1995. The first album was published in 2002. Originally there were two versions of the comic: Adventures of the hedgehog for children, and an adult edition, which reflects in a satirical way current social trends and phenomena, including Polish politicians and environmentalists, and the Skinhead movement. Zenek and Stefan, the Skinheads in the books, are members of »Młodzież Wszechpolska«, a right-wing extremist, militant youth organization in Poland. Jeż Jerzy is smart, and thus always manages to escape his enemies. Yet, he is by no means a cliché or a »positive hero« only: he drinks alcohol, takes drugs, and goes to extremes in his sexual life. So far, nine Jerzy albums have been published. In March 2011 Jeż Jerzy had its premiere in Polish cinemas. Rafał Skarżycki wrote the script for a 90-minute movie with a pictorial language inspired by »South Park«. Wojciech Wawszczyk, Jakub Tarkowski and Tomasz Leśniak were the directors of the film, which was screened internationally for the first time at the South West Film Festival in Austin (USA), also in March 2011.
In 2009 Skarżycki published his debut novel »Teleznowela« about the thirty-something generation. This is the story of two couples − including Milosz, the copy writer, who becomes the co-author of a new TV series, and his girlfriend Agata, who is rather sceptical about his new job. Skarżycki uses a rather liberal colloquial and vernacular, and sheds an ironic light on the problems of his peers, who are kept busy by vacation planning, relationship problems, and the difficult life of a screenwriter.
Rafał Skarżycki received numerous awards, including the Prize for the Best Comic Script at the 8th International Comic Festival in Łódź in 1997, the Grand Prix of the 10th International Comic Festival in Łódź in 1999, and a special mention at the 2nd International Screenwriters Festival Interscenario 2008 in Wrocław for his screenplay for the comedy »Bad news«. Rafał Skarżycki lives in Warsaw.

© internationales literaturfestival berlin

Jeż Jerzy. Dla dzieci
Piąte Piętro
Warschau, 1998

Jeż Jerzy. Ścigany
Egmont Polska
Warschau, 2003

Tymek & Mistrz. Król kłopotów
Egmont Polska
Warschau, 2004

Jeż Jerzy. Egzorcysta
Egmont Polska
Warschau, 2006

Teleznowela
Prozami
Warschau, 2009