Olga Drenda
{{Short description|Polish anthropologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Olga Drenda
| image = {{image flip|250px}}
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption = Self-portrait, 2020
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1984}}
| birth_place = Poland
| occupation = Writer
| language = Polish
| education =
| alma_mater = Jagiellonian University
| period = 21st century
| genre = Sociocultural anthropology
| subject = Polish cultural history
| notable_works = Duchologia polska
| partner = Andrzej Klimek
| awards = {{Plainlist|
- {{Awards|award=Paszport Polityki|year=2018|title=Wyroby|role=Nominee}}
- {{Awards|Gdynia Literary Prize|2019|Wyroby}}
}}
| website = {{Instagram|id=ducholozka|name=Olga Drenda}}
| portaldisp = yes
}}
Olga Drenda (born 1984) is a Polish anthropologist, cultural historian, translator, writer and author. She has an interest in popular culture, and everyday life and objects from late 20th century Poland covering the period of the Polish People's Republic to the transition from communism.
Biography
Drenda spent her early childhood being raised in her parents home, an osiedle in the Ligota area of Katowice, which later became well known for featuring in the television series The Mire. After the age of ten her family settled in Mikołów.{{cite web |last=Koperda |first=Aleksandra |title=Olga Drenda i Andrzej Klimek |url=https://hygge-blog.com/15306-2/ |website=Hygge |access-date=14 August 2024 |language=pl|date=15 September 2021}}
File:2022-07 Katowice - Ligota-Panewniki 070.jpg where Drenda spent her formative years]]
In 2004 Drenda started her first blogs while at university, which covered themes around everyday life, literature, and personal reflections. At the time she worked for an advertising agency specialising in translating copy, however due to a chronic health condition Drenda opted to follow a career as a freelance writer. In the lead up to Euro 2012 Drenda began to intensively photograph everyday street scenes and architecture in the realisation that much of it would be lost due to rapid redevelopment in preparation for Poland hosting the tournament.{{cite web |last=Bachowski |first=Michał |title=Szukają dziwnych budynków. Znaleźli zamczysko, a w nim gabinet dentystyczny |url=https://noizz.pl/design/szukaja-dziwnych-budynkow-znalezli-zamczysko-a-w-nim-gabinet-dentystyczny/n2nks70 |website=Noizz |access-date=15 August 2024 |language=pl|date=11 July 2024}} That year she started the Duchologia page on Tumblr and Facebook which was intended to archive the everyday life of Poland's transition from communism.
In 2016 Drenda published her seminal book Ducholgia polska, which focused on the material experience of Poland's transition from communism through the prism of Jacques Derrida's concept of hauntology. A later publication titled Wyroby, drew on her previous book in discussing commercial products and domestic objects from the post-war period of Polish history to the 21st century.{{cite magazine |last=Zych |first=Leszek |editor-last=Baczyński |editor-first=Jerzy |title=Literatura. Nominowana: Olga Drenda |magazine=Polityka |date=4 December 2018 |volume=3189 |issue=39 |page=80 |url=https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kultura/paszporty/1773616,1,literatura-nominowana-olga-drenda.read |access-date=14 August 2024 |publisher=Polityka – Spółdzielnia Pracy |language=pl|issn=0032-3500 |oclc=6547308}} While facing some criticism for not including the opinion of more historical experts, the art historian Maria Poprzęcka praised Drenda for her anthropological expertise in Wyroby.{{cite web |title="Wyroby" Olgi Drendy |url=https://muzeumpanatadeusza.ossolineum.pl/wyroby-olgi-drendy/ |website=Muzeum Pana Tadeusza |publisher=Ossolineum |access-date=14 August 2024 |language=pl}}
Drenda has worked on various translations, including the Polish editions of William S. Burroughs's The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded from his Nova Trilogy. She has also translated the work of Małgorzata Rejmer into English.{{cite web |title=Olga Drenda |url=https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/polish-literature,8,authors-index,26,olga-drenda,962.html?filter=D |website=Book Institute Poland |access-date=14 August 2024}}
Drenda has lectured at the National Museum in Kraków.{{cite web |title=Rozmowa z Olgą Drendą o neonowym spychaczu i nie tylko |url=https://mnk.pl/aktualnosci/rozmowa-z-olga-drenda-o-neonowym-spychaczu-i-nie-tylko |website=mnk.pl |publisher=National Museum in Kraków |access-date=15 August 2024 |language=pl}} In 2024 it was announced that she would be the creative director of that years Conrad Festival.{{cite news |last=Piątkowska |first=Anna |title=Kobiecy duet stanął na czele literackiego Festiwalu Conrada w Krakowie |url=https://gazetakrakowska.pl/kobiecy-duet-stanal-na-czele-literackiego-festiwalu-conrada-w-krakowie/ar/c13-18565789 |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=Gazeta Krakowska |date=28 May 2024 |language=pl}} Since September 2024 Drenda has been the co-host of the PR4 show {{lang|pl|Drenda i Paśnik w Czwórce}}.{{cite web |title=Drenda i Paśnik w Czwórce |url=https://www.polskieradio.pl/10/11046 |website=Polskie Radio |language=Pl}}
Personal life
Drenda has previously lived in Gdańsk, and since 2018 has resided in the Warsaw district of Mokotów with her partner Andrzej Klimek. Drenda is a fan of {{lang|pl|piosenka poetycka}}, a form of Polish sung poetry. She has described Filip Kuźniarz's tribute to Stanisław Lem as one of Kraków's best pieces of street art.{{cite news |last=Drenda |first=Olga |title=The insider's cultural guide to Krakow: 'We've seen some radical changes' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/feb/23/krakow-insiders-cultural-guide |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=23 February 2015}} Drenda has a collection of pop and disco cassette's from which she sometimes DJ's.{{cite web |title=Olga Drenda |url=https://www.unsound.pl/en/archive/en/dada/artists/olga-drenda.html |website=Unsound |access-date=14 August 2024}}
Awards
Her book Wyroby: Pomysłowość wokół nas won the Gdynia Literary Prize,{{cite web |title=Laureaci 2019 |url=https://archiwum.nagrodaliterackagdynia.pl/nagroda/laureaci-2019/ |website=Nagroda Literacka Gdynia |access-date=14 August 2024 |language=pl}} as well as being nominated for the Paszport Polityki award.
Works
- {{cite book |last=Drenda |first=Olga |date=2016 |title=Duchologia polska: Rzeczy i ludzie w latach transformacji |language=pl|publisher=Karakter |isbn=8365271125}}
- {{cite book |last1=Dobroczyński |first1=Bartłomiej |last2=Drenda |first2=Olga |date=2017 |title=Czyje jest nasze życie? |language=pl|publisher=Znak |isbn=8324043926}}
- {{cite book |last1=Drenda |first1=Olga |last2=Rusznica |first2=Łukasz |date=2018 |title=Subterranean River |location=Kraków|publisher=Fundacja Sztuk Wizualnych |isbn=836297835X}}
- {{cite book |last=Drenda |first=Olga |date=2018 |title=Wyroby: Pomysłowość wokół nas |language=pl|publisher=Karakter |isbn=8365271753}}
- {{cite book |last=Drenda |first=Olga |editor-last1=Chmara |editor-first1=Maciej |editor-last2=Rosinke |editor-first2=Ania |date=2019 |title=Essays on Kitchens |chapter="Zrób To Sam": the Legacy of the DIY Approach in Polish Vernacular Creativity |location=Leipzig |publisher=Spector |isbn=9783959053280}}
- {{cite book |last1=Drenda |first1=Olga |last2=Halber |first2=Małgorzata |date=2020 |title=Książka o miłości |language=pl|publisher=Znak Literanova |isbn=978-83-240-7210-1}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Błaszczyk |editor1-first=Dawid |editor2-last=Czechowicz |editor2-first=Tomasz |editor3-last=Janus |editor3-first=Maciej |editor4-last=Misiak |editor4-first=Marian |translator-last1=Drenda |translator-first1=Olga |title=Radical Passion: The Worlds Longest Produced Electric Train and a Vibrant Train Culture |date=2021 |publisher=Tory Press & Threedotstype |location=Wrocław |isbn=978-83-954954-3-4}}
- {{cite book |last=Drenda |first=Olga |date=2023 |title=Słowo humoru |language=pl|publisher=Karakter |isbn=8367016890}}