Zyta Rudz­ka (born 1964) is a mas­ter­ful writer, whose terse and force­ful style is rapid­ly gain­ing her a place among Poland’s best con­tem­po­rary nov­el­ists. Her first nov­el, Dr. Josef’s Lit­tle Beau­ty, was revised and reis­sued in 2021 as one of a tril­o­gy of nov­els that explore old age and the final stage of life. Despite shared themes, each book stands on its own and has oth­er cen­tral themes as well. Rudzka’s oth­er two nov­els are A Brief Exchange of Fire (2018, win­ner of the Gdy­nia Lit­er­ary Award, short­list­ed for the Nike Lit­er­ary Award) and Soft Tis­sues (2020, win­ner of the City of War­saw Lit­er­ary Award). Her lat­est nov­el, Only Those with Teeth Can Smile, moves away from the old-age theme, but is just as hard-hit­ting as its pre­de­ces­sors, and is nom­i­nat­ed for the 2023 Nike Lit­er­ary Award, Poland’s top lit­er­ary prize. Her nov­els are now appear­ing in for­eign trans­la­tions. Dr. Josef’s Lit­tle Beau­ty is her first to appear in Eng­lish trans­la­tion. Rudz­ka is also an award-win­ning play­wright and poet. In 2022 she won the Poz­nań Lit­er­ary Award for her entire oeu­vre to date.