Called the Slav Saphona, the Gioconda of the North, the Cyber Lady.

Ewa Sonnenberg is Ewa Sonnenberg is Ewa Sonnenberg
Called the Slav Saphona, the Gioconda of the North, the Cyber Lady.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?
She was born on Van Gogh` s, Goya` s and Verlain` s Birthday, at the foot of Srebrna Góra (the Silver Mountain ) in the fairy land of Lower Silesia. In the land of fortune tellers and alchemists, raubritters and mystics ( Angelus, Boehme) penitential crosses and unending meadows. She grew up in her grandparents` garden. Had elves, brownies, fairies and wizards ever existed, they would have lived in that garden. If anyone was to define the essence of perfection it would have been the whiteness of the jasmine in blossom and the purple of wild lilac in that garden. The magicians of the land of her childhood are a tree, a horse cab and the jasmine. The magicians of her poetry are the bare feet, the snow and the meadow. The Masters of her Road are a butterfly and a grasshopper. Her grandparents` garden is the realm of light, as if six moons shone at night and two suns during the day. Once she met a pack of wolves. One of the lonely wolves taught her loneliness. Once he cried in her presence and she – a child, found excuse for his tears in the morning when picking violets with her grandma. Since than, she has wanted the words to have wings so that she could fly away to the Invisible Land which exists parallel to the visible world. The Land which can be entered by sieges, children and those who know. First there was a wood, a wood and her grandfather who used to read fairytales to her, the grandmother who dressed up like a fairy.
Nobody had ever taught her what the real world was. Behind the house, there was the landscape – the most beautiful face of the world. Since then, her poems have been trying to be a mirror attempting to show the reflection of this face. First, there was the wood, a moment later-the meadow – conversations with her mother. Friendship with Anna. Anna was like a sister to her. And the school, in fact, falling into school. The loss of grandparents` garden. Perhaps this is why she was not a pupil but a rare visitor…The real school was the world surrounding her….the socrealistic buildings and minds. It was only later that she realized she came from the most surrealistic country in the world, although the blood in her veins was a mixture of Danish, German, Hungarian and Turkish heritage. She was becoming more and more of a stranger. A nobody` s alien. The discovery of rebellion. The musical school. The piano music – her passion and escape into the imaginary world. The interior of existence splits into two: on the right the path of music, on the left the path of poetry. As a child, she was fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, as a young girl, by Schumann, David Bowie, Rimbaud, now she is fascinated by Dogen, Hakuin, Basho. She was in love many times in her life, but she still does not know what love is. She said: love will be the emotion when I feel I outgrow my own poems. She published her works in all literary journals in Poland. Her poems were translated into English, French, German, Swedish, Russian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Slovak, Czech, Serbian, Italian. The published books of poetry “Hazard” ( Gambling”) [Wrocław, 1995}, “Kraina tysiąca notesów” ( The Land of a Thousand Diaries) [Dzierżoniów, 1997], “Planeta (The Planet) [Katowice, 1997), “Smycz”(The Leash) [Wrocław 2000], “ Płonący Tramwaj”(A Tram on Fire) [Kraków 2001], “Lekcja Zachwytu” (A Lesson of Delight) [Kraków 2005], “Pisane na piasku ” (Written on Sand) translated into English by Katarzyna Jakubiak. She also published a book “ Paź królowej. Bajka dla zakochanych” (The Queen` s Page. A Fairytale for Lovers” [Kraków 2006] and “Encyklopedia Szaleńca” (A Madman` s Encyclopedia) [Wrocław 2006 in the “Rita Baum” library). In 2006 in Beograd appeared the collection “ “Imperium łzy ( The Empire of a Tear) [selected poems] translated by Biserka Rajcic. Ewa held a grant from Independent Culture in Paris, and twice (2001,2008) a grant of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. For “Hazard” she got George Trakl Award. Her other achievements involve learning by heart a hundred Latin adages and going, by lift, to the top of the Eiffel` s Tower. She likes to be surrounded by beautiful people and beautiful objects. She does not like cheap perfume and shortcuts. She loves desserts and hairdressers. She despises lined notebooks and neatly lined up ideas. She loves grasshoppers and butterflies. She does not like mollusc and crocodiles. She has a collection of umbrellas, fans and calligraphy brushes. She lives on desiccated coconut, aspirin and cakes. She swims upstream the river called “poetic connections” – because as, a Japanese legend says – when she reaches the source she will turn into a Dragon.
CAN YOU IMAGINE?