My Life: Magda Sroka
Staff journalist | 2nd December 2009

This month, we hook up with Magda Sroka, who as director of the Krakow Festival Office, trips the light fantastic with a host of poets, musicians, artists, film-makers and pierogi chefs. She's a proud Cracovian, and this December (besides preparing an epic Wigilia dinner for her family) she's busy championing the second incarnation of Boska Komedia (The Divine Comedy), Krakow's pioneering festival of contemporary theatre.

Krakow Post: If you could live anywhere in Krakow, where would it be, and why?

Magda Sroka: It's really hard to say: Salwator, Podgórze, Kazimierz... All parts of the city are beautiful. Especially those: so rural, so bucolic, and cosy. Just like Krakow.

KP: If you were crowned queen of Krakow, what would be your first move?

MS: [Laughs] Increase the budget for culture by 300%! Find a powerful host for the Internet WIFI connection for the whole city, make it available for free, and ensure access to all public data.

KP: What's one place tourists can't miss when in Krakow?

MS: Kanonicza Street and Mariacki (St. Mary’s) Square, simply because there are no more beautiful places in this world.

KP: Is there anything that's overrated about Krakow?

MS: Well… we must grumble, mustn’t we? We don’t advertise anything enough to have it over-hyped or overrated. Cracovians tend to find everything poor and shoddy. We don’t become enthusiastic about anything, so the answer is no.

KP: If you had to erect a statue to any Cracovian, dead or alive, who would it be?

MS: The Estreichers [a colourful professorial dynasty]. For personal reasons. I was once a visitor to their home and left with a love and lust for literature.

KP: What eating and drinking haunts would you recommend in the city?

MS: Everywhere! It is best to eat every day in a different place, and drink every weekend in a different place too. Yet definitely in the area of Kazimierz and Rynek Główny.

KP: What's your biggest annoyance about living in Krakow?

MS: You won’t guess. Nothing! (laughs) I am generally a happy person but I’m especially happy to live here. I lived a few years in other cities [a little bird told us they were Gdańsk and Warsaw] and since I returned to Krakow, nothing can annoy me here. Cross my heart! When there’s something little that is trying – there always may be some little trifles – I quickly remember the difference.

KP: Where do you go to escape for the weekend?

MS: To Podhale. Always.

KP: What's a secret tip for staving off the winter blues?

MS: Classic and invariable: I drown myself in a sea of literature (the whole Stig Larson trilogy was barely enough for last weekend).

KP: Finally: pierogi or nalesniki?

MS: Only pierogi and always pierogi. Especially when I am about to make 400 of them for Christmas. Then I know I come from Poland. And it is only one such time in the year, and that costs sweat and blood.

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