Background
He is a son of Polish-Jewish historian Zdzisław Libera, who survived the Warsaw Ghetto.
He is a son of Polish-Jewish historian Zdzisław Libera, who survived the Warsaw Ghetto.
He graduated from Warsaw University and received his Ph.
Doctorate. from the Polish Academy of Sciences. His original surname was Libin. Libera is best known for his translations and productions of Samuel Beckett"s plays.
He has translated all Beckett"s dramatic works into Polish, as well as some of his other works.
He has also directed many of Beckett"s plays in Poland, Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Many famous Polish actors have appeared in those plays, including Tadeusz Łomnicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Maja Komorowska, Adam Ferency, Zbigniew Zamachowski, and Andrzej Seweryn, along with British actors like Barry McGovern and David Warrilow. His other translations include Shakespeare "Macbeth", Sophocles "Antigon" and "Oedipus the King", Oscar Wilde "Salome", Friedrich Hölderlin, Constantine Cavafy, and others
He has translated a number of opera librettos as well, such as "Death in Venice" by Benjamin Britten, "Black mask", and "Ubu King" by Krzysztof Penderecki. In 1990 he was commissioned by the London Royal Court Theatre to write the play "Eastern Promises," which was performed in that theater and published in “The May Days Dialogues" by Methuen in 1990 (Polish title: "Czy Europa musi zginąć"? published in “Dialog”).
The novel has been translated into 20 languages.
From 1988 to 1993, Libera was one of the editors of the magazine "Puls", and from 1996 to 2001 he was a literary director at the Dramatic Theater in Warsaw. In October 2010 he was awarded the Silver Medal “Gloria Artis.”.
He is a member of the Pen Club, the Polish Writers Association (Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich), and the American Samuel Beckett Society.