Stanisław Pestka

Stanisław Pestka (8 April 1929 – 2 April 2015) was a Kashubian poet. He was born in Rolbik. Pestke was also a translator of Russian texts into Kashubian language. He was the chairman of Kashubian-Pomeranian Association from 1976 to 1980 and again from 1992 to 1994. He was a Kashubian activist. He died in 2015.

Publications

In 1950 he graduated from the Jozef Wybicki High School in Koscierzyna, and in 1953 he studied Polish Studies at the University of Poznan. After graduation, he worked as a teacher. In 1958 he settled in Gdansk, cooperated with the magazine Kaszëbë until its liquidation in 1961, in 1961-1965 headed the cultural department of the Illustrated Polish Courier, in 1965-1967 worked at the Polish Radio Broadcasting Station in Szczecin, in 1967-1968 at the magazine Facts and Thoughts. Since 1968 he lived in Gdansk again, and was a member of the editorial board of the magazine Litery (1968-1974), the weekly Czas (1975-1981). At the same time he was editor-in-chief of Pomerania monthly (1969-1972). In the 1980s he worked at the Provincial Cultural Center in Gdansk, and was again editor-in-chief of Pomerania from 1990-1994.

He published poetry under the pen name Jan Zbrzyca, and his articles and feuilletons were signed Krëban z Milachòwa. (The word krëban or kùrban literally to a jar for storing animal fat, but "Krëbans" also refer to an Ethnic subgroup of Kashubians.)

• Południca, Gdańsk 1976
• Wizrë ë duchë, Gdańsk 1986; ISBN 83-85011-09-9
• Wieczòrny widnik, 2002
• W krainie chmurników, 2011, collection of prose

Bibliography

• J. Drzeżdżon, "Współczesna literatura kaszubska 1945-1980", Warszawa 1986
• Polish bibliography
• "Z zaborskiego matecznika. O Stanisławie Pestce - Janie Zbrzycy", pod red. J. Borzyszkowskiego, Gdańsk 2008.