Episodes
Sunday Nov 10, 2019
Episode 68
Sunday Nov 10, 2019
Sunday Nov 10, 2019
In Episode 68 you will hear:
Interviews:
• How young Polish Canadians stirred up Polish youth around the world - 10 years of Quo Vadis
On September 20-22, 2019 delegates from all over the world came to Toronto to celebrate 10 years of Quo Vadis, a unique youth movement, one and only in the world. POLcast talks to Ania Barycka, the conference spiritus movens, organizer and veteran.
• An Australian Quo Vadis organizer's experience with polishness
While at the 10th QV conference in Toronto, I met a really enthusiastic young Pole Szymon Motylek, who now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. His life is quite a story...
• A Hongkonger with a Polish heart
I met Ericsson Singh at Quo Vadis. Born in Hong Kong, he loves Poland, speaks the language and is very active in the Polish Club at the University of Toronto. He sees his future in Poland with his Polish fiancee Kinga. What a story!
and
• Smacznego! Eating Polish - Polish goulash (gulasz)
• Music - POLcast's surprise at the end of the episode (a Polish Canadian nominated for a Grammy 2020).
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
POLcast Episode 67
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
In Episode 67 you will hear:
Interviews:
• Was it worth it? A story of an immigrant's journey
Liliana Arkuszewski lives in Ottawa. Her book about her immigration journey written in Polish has now been translated to English and recently published.
• A true hero who risked his life to save others
Mr. Franciszek Paslawski, who just passed away in September 2019, was the last Righteous Among Nations still living in Canada. This is his story and the story of those who owe him their lives.
• In love with Dawson City, Yukon
Matylda Lis, a vivacious young Polish Canadian woman who travels all over the world, has fallen in love with Dawson City, Yukon, famous for the Klondike gold rush. Matylda spends all her summers there and has become a part of its community.
and
• Smacznego! Eating Polish - plum crumble
• Music - POLcast's surprise at the end of the episode.
Sunday Sep 01, 2019
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
POLcast Episode 65
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
In Episode 65 you will hear:
Interviews:
• Murder, cover up and forced silence - the war was not over for Poles
Wanda Kościa talks to Piotr Szkopiak, British writer/director and his most recent film “The Last Witness”, a thriller which talks about the Katyn 1940 monumental masacre, in itself a tragedy, but also about another tragic aspect of it - the coverup by the Allies, who didn’t want to reveal the Soviet guilt, ascribing it to the Germans. The film also shows the fate of Polish refugees after WWII who lived for years in displaced persons’ camps in Britain, unable to return to their motherland controlled by the communist Soviet Union after the war, and unable to openly talk about why they had to stay in Britain and what had happened.
• The future of money and information
Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology - everybody talks about these hot terms but not everyone understands what they are all about. It's all explained by Thomas Jankowski, the Chief Digital & Growth Officer at Coinsquare, Canada’s leading exchange for trading Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies.
and
• Smacznego! Eating Polish - super apple recipes
• Music- POLcast's surprise at the end of the episode.
Sunday May 26, 2019
POLcast Episode 64
Sunday May 26, 2019
Sunday May 26, 2019
In Episode 64 you will hear:
Interviews:
• Polish language, literature and culture lovers at a North American university
Why is it that not only people with Polish roots but also people who have no Polish blood in them study Polish literature, culture and language in countries outside Poland such as Canada?
• The land of mosquitos and Poles in Ontario (Part 2)
Kaszuby, an area in northern Ontario, about 200 kilometres west of Ottawa, named after the part of northern Poland from which the first settlers came, is the site of the first Polish settlement in Canada. The Kashubian language and childhood memories...
• A translator's gift to English language readers
Bill Johnston, a professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University and an award winning prolific translator of Polish literature of all genres and epochs, did the unthinkable - translated the legendary Polish national epic "Pan Tadeusz" by Adam Mickiewicz (1834), in verse. “Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania” was published by Achipelago Books in 2018. How did he do that?
and
• Smacznego! Eating Polish - super beet recipes
• UPDATES - what's new in the POLcast family? Recent achievements of POLcast interviewees.
• Music- POLcast's surprise at the end of the episode.
Sunday Apr 28, 2019
POLcast episode 63
Sunday Apr 28, 2019
Sunday Apr 28, 2019
In this episode you will hear:
Interviews:
• From building capitalism in Poland to writing books and helping others
Agnieszka Dydycz tells her story of the very beginning of capitalism in Poland and her role in creating capital markets at the national level, her interactions with the biggest institutional global investors, and then... her life as a writer and her charity work.
• Polished ice - curling in Poland
Adela Walczak lives in Poland, a country without any curling traditions and without any curling facilities. Until now, because Adela decided to build a world class curling club in her home town Łódź, in the centre of Poland. And she did!
• The land of mosquitos and Poles in Ontario
Kaszuby, an area in northern Ontario, about 200 kilometres west of Ottawa, named after the part of northern Poland from which the first settlers came, is the site of the first Polish settlement in Canada.
and
• Great Poles - Marian Smoluchowski
• Smacznego! Eating Polish - sorrel soup
Saturday Mar 09, 2019
POLcast episode 62
Saturday Mar 09, 2019
Saturday Mar 09, 2019
In this episode you will hear:
Interviews:
• Polish art in Indian palaces
Poland’s connections with many geographically distant countries are a fascinating topic. This story of a famous pre-war Polish painter whose art decorates many palaces in India is told by a Canadian POLcast listener born in India. He had just come back to Canada after visiting his home country and was fascinated with artist Stefan Norblin’s contribution to India’s culture.
• Basia’s love line
Basia lives in a small town in Ontario. On a line between two trees in front of her house she hangs donated winter clothes as well as hats and scarves she and her daughter make. They are free for anyone who needs them.
and
• The minorities of Poland – Lemkos.
• Smacznego! Eating Polish – pork roast
Sunday Feb 10, 2019
POLcast episode 61
Sunday Feb 10, 2019
Sunday Feb 10, 2019
In this episode you will hear:
Interviews:
• If you cannot buy it – make it yourself: a story of Kannuk vodka
Imagine that you go to a store and want to buy something special as a gift – well, you cannot because it’s simply not available. 99.9 per cent of people would simply leave saying: “too bad. I wish they produced it” and go buy something else. But not Adam Szymkow…
• The world’s largest orchestra “plays” for sick kids
This year for the 27th time, Poland’s largest fundraising campaign – the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, which collects money for medical equipment for Polish paediatric hospitals – has “played” in Poland and dozens of countries, including Canada. Every year the fundraising drive ends in a grand finale concert – ours was held at the Fregata Restaurant in Mississauga.
• Great Poles – Zbigniew Religa, a legendary cardiologist
• Smacznego! Eating Polish – bigos
Sunday Dec 16, 2018
POLcast episode 60
Sunday Dec 16, 2018
Sunday Dec 16, 2018
This is our special Christmas Episode so we would like to wish you
WESOŁYCH ŚWIĄT i SZCZĘŚLIWEGO NOWEGO ROKU!
In this episode you will hear:
Interviews:
• Art helps people in a remote African village
For six years Ted Dawson has travelled every fall to rural Tanzania, an area next door to Kilimanjaro, to help local people build and modernize infrastructure. In November, for the first time, he took with him Ewa Henry, a Polish Canadian artist, who opened an art program there, empowering local youth and help them get some income.
• A Polish pre-war story getting yet another life in California
What I really love is when fascinating stories grow by getting extensions and often new lives. Here is one such story. Ana Bayat, a multilingual actress from San Francisco, met and heard the music and the story of Canadian jazz musician Ron Davis at the Edinburgh's Fringe Festival. It's the story of how Ron, a child of Holocaust survivors, discovered that his mother Alicja was right about his grandfather's pre-war past in Warsaw immortalized in a famous song "Bal na Gnojnej" a.k.a. "Bal u Grubego Jośka". Now Ana is writing a play about Ron's mother Alicja.
• Money must not prevent anyone from experiencing the shows
Arthur Wachnik, actor, musician, singer, is the artistic director of an over 3000-seat venue - Christian Performing Arts Centre in Toronto. We talk about this great centre, its mission and its recent brand new show The Nativity Musical.
• Great Poles - Janusz Korczak
• Smacznego! Eating Polish - yummy Christmas traditions
Sunday Nov 11, 2018
POLcast episode 59
Sunday Nov 11, 2018
Sunday Nov 11, 2018
We are releasing this episode on a very special day - today, on 11 November 2018, Poland and Poles around the world are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence.
After 123 years of partitions, on 11 November 1918, the dream of generations of Poles came true: the Polish state was reborn and Poland reappeared on the maps of Europe.
In this episode you will hear:
The story of 100 years of Poland's independence
Special gift to Poland on its 100th anniversary of independence
Interviews:
• Each child deserves to learn music
Arthur Lewinowicz, a violin and viola player, composer and teacher, has made it his life mission to help kids with various disabilities and special needs learn to play the violin and enjoy music. His school Singing Strings in Toronto offers unconventional music education to everybody, including kids from low income families.
• Celebrating Poland - top young Polish writers in Toronto
“Celebrating Poland” at the 39th Toronto International Festival of Authors featured a panel discussion and a Q&A with three top young Polish authors chaired by our own Canadian best selling author Eva Stachniak and hosted by prof. Tamara Trojanowska, Director for the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the UofT, former director of the Polish Language and Literature Program.
• Love for Polish cuisine - comfort food with multiple personalities
Every episode of POLcast brings you a taste of Polish cuisine - those yummy recipes come from Laura and Peter Zeranski, authors of two cook books sold around the world and a hugely popular blog.