In the Ice of Provence: Bunin in Exile

Using her special literary form, Renata Lis narrates the émigré years of Russian classic Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, a Nobel laureate. Following her hero, she travels to Moscow, Paris, and Grasse, without adhering to strict chronology, as the book unfolds according to its own intriguing logic, which allows space for artistic images, personal reflections, and journalistic notes. In one of the chapters, the author completely steps into the shadows, letting her characters speak out loud.
Lis managed to create an amazingly vivid portrait of Bunin, a man of flesh and blood, a familiar stranger, for which she received awards and was nominated for prestigious literary prizes in Poland.
The book concludes with a chronology of I.A. Bunin's life and work and a list of sources that R. Lis used in her writing.

The image of the writer in Renata Lis's book is far from the saintly life depicted in old paintings. In this colorful and carefully composed mosaic, there is room not only for compassion but also for irony, tragedy, and tragicomedy. The book is distinguished by its rarely seen attention to detail and the precision of selected quotes, as well as a sensitive, Bunin-like approach to nature and sharpness of vision.
"Tygodnik povshikhny"

Renata Lis is a contemporary Polish writer, author of two biographical books: "The Hand of Flaubert" (2013) and "In the Ice of Provence. Bunin in Exile" (2015). The first book was nominated for the national literary prize in Poland "Nike", and the second received the literary award from the National Library of Poland "Wings of Daedalus" and made it to the final list of the "Nike" prize. An excerpt from her latest book "Lesbos", imbued with the image of the ancient Greek poetess Sappho, was published in the St. Petersburg magazine "Zvezda". Essays on modern culture and literature by Renata Lis are published in the Polish magazine "Książki", the online publication "Dwutygodnik", and the weekly "Polityka". She lives in Warsaw.