The Acrobat is a vibrant collection of the lasting, essential work of the Nobel Prize–winning poet Wisława Szymborska.
LitStackers! Line up for this one. In presale now, Ecco | HarperCollins will release The Acrobat by Wislawa Szymborska on July 7, 2026. An immersive and exciting collection of poetry. The publisher’s description and the cover art hint at a reading experience that will linger long after you turn the last page. Here’s the scoop and praise on this next must-read. Dip into the book fund for this one!
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In This Spotlight On The Acrobat
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About The Acrobat
Wisława Szymborska’s work is known for its precision, cleverness, deceptive simplicity, and the way the poet plays out domestic and human concerns against the tapestry of history. With a probing, skeptical, and witty eye, Szymborska presents readers with intellectual challenges and philosophical quandaries while remaining accessible and, sometimes, deceptively simple.
“A major poet whose dark, complex, and profoundly intelligent work might otherwise have remained lost to us” (Washington Post), Szymborska has benefitted from being sensitively translated and, in this slim essential collection, the best of her work is preserved for her existing audience while providing entry points for new readers.
Pithy, playful, ironic, and filled with profound observations, The Acrobat is the must-have collection of Szymborska’s most important poetry, also featuring “The Poet and the World,” her Nobel lecture.
Praise for Wislawa Szymborska and The Acrobat
Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel Prize in 1996, cementing her international reputation and causing her work to be translated into a host of languages. She has remained an important figure and one of the most highly regarded poets of the 20th century.
Szymborska’s work has stood the test of time and continues to be read by poetry enthusiasts as well as in classrooms. Charles Simic and Robert Hass both called Szymborska one of Europe’s greatest poets and Ecco has published Szymborska’s work for years. We think a small, essential collection will bring a new readership to her work and refresh her presence in the market.
“More than any poet I can think of, Szymborska not only wants to create a poetic state in her readers, but also to tell them things they didn’t know before or never got around to thinking about.”–Charles Simic, New York Review of Books
About Wislawa Szymborska, Author of The Acrobat
Wislawa Szymborska (1923–2012) was born in Poland and worked as a poetry editor, translator, and columnist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Her books include View with a Grain of Sand, Here, The Acrobat, Monologue of a Dog, and Map: Collected and Last Poems, and Poems New and Collected: 1957–1997.
You can learn more about Wislawa Szymborska on wikipedia, at the Poetry Foundation, and at The Wislawa Szymborska Poetry Foundation.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Ecco | HarperCollins
ISBN Trade Paperback 9780063494916
Pub Date: July 7, 2026
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