The Polish culture ministry said Sapkowski gained international recognition with his short stories and the five-volume Witcher saga, whose main character, Geralt, is a mutant assassin trained from childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters.
Sapkowski’s books have long topped bestseller lists in Poland and have been translated into more than 20 languages including English, German, French, Italian, Hungarian and Chinese.
The Witcher saga has won Sapkowski a host of international awards. It has been made into video games, a Netflix television series and adapted as a musical.
In 2009, Sapkowski received Britain’s David Gemmell Legend Award for his novel Blood of Elves.
Sapkowski, 77, trained as an economist and worked as a sales representative before publishing his first short story in 1986.
Writer Andrzej Sapkowski and Poland's Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska. Photo: Danuta Matloch/MKiDN
(mk/gs)
Source: gov.pl