About Graal Literary Agency
Graal Literary Agency was founded in 1993 as a family business by Maria and Zbigniew Kański. Maria endowed the company with her long publishing and editorial experience, while Zbigniew invested his academic and translational expertise.
Today Graal Literary Agency is proud to represent hundreds of bestselling authors, publishers and literary agencies. The agency’s success now depends to a great extent on the knowledge and enthusiasm of its steadily increasing number of young agents employed at Graal.
Owner
Maria Strarz-Zielińska
Editor, publisher, agent. Graduated in English literature from The Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Worked at Wydawnictwo Literackie, first as an editor, later as head of Foreign Literature Department. Introduced to the Polish market Allen Ginsberg, Philip Roth, James Dickey, Sylvia Plath, Jerzy Kosinski among others. After Poland regained democracy she founded a literary agency, first under her own name and in 1993, together with her husband, set up Graal Ltd. Maria loves nature trails, skiing and swimming. She is a constant reader.
Owner
Zbigniew Kański
M.A. in English at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, PhD in linguistics at The University of Silesia in Katowice, graduate student at the Durham University (England), State University of New York at Fredonia, and Eastern Michigan University at Ypsilanti; Senior Fulbright Fellow at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Co-founded the Graal Literary Agency, designed and developed the proprietary agency software, started and directed the academic and professional books section in the agency business. Interests: wildlife and landscape photography.
Agent
Łukasz Wróbel
A graduate of Warsaw School of Economics, Łukasz has worked in the publishing industry since 2001. He was a rights manager at a publishing house before joining Graal in 2009. He likes SF/fantasy books and thrillers. Harry Dresden and Jack Reacher are his favorite literary characters.
Agent/Assistant
Michał Landsberger
Born in 1981 in Warsaw, Michał has a degree in English Philology from Warsaw University. He has worked at Graal since 2010. He specializes in non-fiction books, mostly in business, academic, and IT titles. He prefers the written to the spoken word.
Assistant
Agnieszka Piotrowska-Strojna
Before joining Graal in 2021, Agnieszka had been working for over 10 years in the foreign rights department at one of the well-known publishing houses. After hours, she enjoys reading uplifting novels or attending fitness classes. Her favorite places to relax are in the mountains.
Assistant
Marta Stankiewicz
Marta graduated from the Institute of English Studies, Warsaw University with an M.A. in American Literature. She joined Graal in 2021. Her favorite writers are James Baldwin and Han Kang. She is an aficionado of Korean culture and language.
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Agent
Tomasz Bereziński
Tomek started working with Graal back in 2005. After a few years break and gathering experience at the largest scientific publishing house in Poland, he returned to us in 2014. Among other things, Tomasz represents all our clients in the German-speaking area.
Assistant
Olga Więzowska
Olga graduated from Warsaw University with an M.A. in Art History. She joined Graal in 2016. Previously, she worked at a bookstore as a book-buyer and published in the architectural quarterly Rzut. Enthusiast of small mammals, books about explorers and very bad movies.
Agent
Paulina Machnik
Paulina graduated from Warsaw University with a degree in Japanese studies. She learned the tough rules of publishing at W.A.B. publishing house before joining Graal in 2015. Passionate about cycling, polar history and space exploration.
Assistant
Julia Szymczak
Intercultural Language Studies (English, French, Italian) graduate. In the literary world she feels closest to Polish and Italian poetry and reportage. Movie lover. She spends her time on vintage shopping and coffee drinking.
Assistant
Aneta Szczupakowska
Aneta holds a B.A. in English Philology and M.A. in Scientific Information and Library Studies with specialization in Editing/ Cultural heritage studies. She joined Graal in 2010. Her favorite writers are Neil Gaiman, T. Pratchett and Diane Setterfield. She loves to spend her free time playing with graphic applications and creating her digital illustrations and designs.