Maja Mozga-Górecka Wins 2026 Conrad Award
Maja Mozga-Górecka has been named the laureate of the 2026 Conrad Award. The prize honours her book “Figlarnie. Przestrzenie radykalnej prywatności”, published by Karakter. The results were announced on 24 October during a gala at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, as part of the Festiwal Conrada (Conrad Festival). The award is given for the best prose debut, and this year marks its 12th edition.
In Brief
- The 2026 Conrad Award laureate is Maja Mozga-Górecka, author of “Figlarnie. Przestrzenie radykalnej prywatności”.
- The results were announced on 24 October during a gala at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków.
- The award is given for the best prose debut; this is its 12th edition.
- The winner was chosen jointly by the competition jury and readers.
- Five authors made it to the final round.
Who Received the Award and For What
The Conrad Award went to Maja Mozga-Górecka this year. The prize honours her book “Figlarnie. Przestrzenie radykalnej prywatności”, which was published by Karakter. The competition is open to authors making their debut in prose, and this year’s edition was its twelfth. The laureate was chosen jointly by the competition jury and readers, as was announced before the gala.
The results were revealed on 24 October in Kraków. The announcement took place during a ceremony at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and formed part of the Festiwal Conrada, within which this award is presented every year.
What “Figlarnie” Is About
The award-winning book takes the form of an essay. Its subject is privacy and the spaces designed as places of seclusion and refuge, that is, places where one can take shelter and remain away from others. The author draws on various examples of such places, describing among them summer houses, gardens and studies.
The titular figlarnie also appear in this survey. The available information about the book does not go into further detail about its structure, but it is clear that privacy is approached through the lens of space, and not solely as a general category.
The Five Finalists
Five authors were nominated for the final stage of the competition. Alongside the laureate, four other people competed for the prize, and their prose debuts also made it into the final five.
The finalists were:
- Emilia Konwerska
- Arek Kowalik
- Zofia Lorek
- Maja Mozga-Górecka
- Zofia Zaleska
The Gala as Part of the Conrad Festival
The ceremony took place at the centre of the city’s cultural life, the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, and was one of the events of the Festiwal Conrada. It is within this framework that the competition results for the best prose debut are announced and the prize is presented.
The available information does not indicate that the gala involved any changes to traffic arrangements, public transport or the work of Kraków’s institutions. The event was purely cultural and literary in character, and its main outcome was the naming of the laureate of the twelfth edition of the award.
Frequently Asked Questions
The award was given for the essay “Figlarnie. Przestrzenie radykalnej prywatności”, published by Karakter. The book deals with privacy and with spaces designed as places of seclusion and refuge, such as summer houses, gardens, studies and the titular figlarnie.
The winner was chosen jointly by the competition jury and readers. This method of selecting the winner was announced before the gala, at which the results of the 12th edition of the award were revealed on 24 October.
The results were announced on 24 October 2026 during a gala at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków. The event was part of the Festiwal Conrada, within which the Conrad Award is presented.
Key Facts
- Maja Mozga-Górecka is the laureate of the 12th edition of the Conrad Award for a prose debut.
- The award-winning book is an essay on privacy and spaces of seclusion.
- The 24 October gala in Kraków did not involve any changes to traffic or public transport.
Based on information from: krakow.pl
