{{short description|Polish novelist and screenwriter}} {{For|the gymnast Joanna Chmielewska|Gymnastics at the World Games}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Joanna Chmielewska | image = Joanna Chmielewska.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Irena Becker | birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|4|2|df=y}} | birth_place = Warsaw, Poland | death_date = {{death date and age|2013|10|7|1932|4|2|df=yes}} | death_place = Warsaw, Poland | alma_mater = Warsaw University of Technology | occupation = novelist | citizenship = Polish | period = 1964-2013 | genre = Crime fiction | movement = | notableworks = ''Całe zdanie nieboszczyka''<br/>''Wszystko czerwone''<br/>''Wszyscy jesteśmy podejrzani'' | awards = | influences = | influenced = | website = {{URL|http://www.chmielewska.pl/}} | signature = Joanna Chmielewska (autograf).JPG }}

'''Joanna Chmielewska''' (<small>Polish</small>: {{IPAc-pl|j|o|'|a|n|n|a|-|ch|m|j|e|'|l|e|f|s|k|a}}; 2 April 1932 – 7 October 2013),<ref name="GW birthday">{{Cite news | url = http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,60935,4025915.html|title = Joanna Chmielewska kończy 75 lat|newspaper = Gazeta Wyborcza|date = 2 April 2007 |accessdate = 2008-09-16|language = pl | postscript = <!--None-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Joanna Chmielewska nie żyje. Jej kryminały bawiły pokolenia|url=http://wyborcza.pl/1,75248,14737459,Joanna_Chmielewska_nie_%C5%BCyje__Jej_kryminaly_bawily.html|accessdate=7 October 2013|newspaper=Gazeta Wyborcza|date=7 October 2013}}</ref> was the pen name of '''Irena Kühn''' (née Becker), a Polish novelist and screenwriter. Her work is often described as "ironic detective stories".<ref>The term "ironic detective stories" appears to arise from the collection Иронический детектив (''ironicheskij detektiv'') in which the Russian translations of her work are published by Phantom Press, Moscow. It is also used by the Internet Movie Database and by the site [https://archive.today/20130416073846/http://www.culture.pl/web/english/resources-literature-full-page/-/eo_event_asset_publisher/eAN5/content/joanna-chmielewska culture.pl], among others.</ref> Her novels, which have been translated into at least eleven languages,<ref>UNESCO [http://ftp.unesco.org/xtrans/a/openisis.a?a=CHMIELEWSKA+JOANNA&ns=%2Fxtrans%2Fstat%2FxTransList.a%3Flg&tie=and&t3=1&t4=10 Index Translationum database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005050759/http://ftp.unesco.org/xtrans/a/openisis.a?a=CHMIELEWSKA+JOANNA&ns=%2Fxtrans%2Fstat%2FxTransList.a%3Flg&tie=and&t3=1&t4=10 |date=2011-10-05 }}. Retrieved on 2008-09-16.</ref> have sold more than 6&nbsp;million copies in Poland<ref name="GW birthday" /> and over 10&nbsp;million copies in Russia.<ref name="Kobra bio">{{cite web | url = http://chmielewska.pl/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5 | title = Joanna Chmielewska Biography | publisher = Kobra Media | accessdate = 2008-09-16}}</ref>

==Life and career== Born in Warsaw in 1932, Chmielewska graduated as an architect in 1954 from Warsaw University of Technology, and worked as a designer before devoting herself to writing.<ref name="GW birthday" /><ref name="Kobra bio" /> Her first short story was published in the popular magazine ''Kultura i Życie'' (''Culture and Life'') in 1958 and her first novel, ''Klin'' (''The Wedge''), in 1964. She loved horse races and gambling: both hobbies are mentioned extensively in her books.<ref name="culture">{{cite web | url = http://www.culture.pl/web/english/resources-literature-full-page/-/eo_event_asset_publisher/eAN5/content/joanna-chmielewska | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130416073846/http://www.culture.pl/web/english/resources-literature-full-page/-/eo_event_asset_publisher/eAN5/content/joanna-chmielewska | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-04-16 | title = Polish Culture: Joanna Chmielewska | accessdate = 2008-09-21 | publisher = culture.pl }}</ref> She was also a connoisseur of amber,<ref name="Kobra bio" /><ref name="culture" /> a passion which forms the basis for her 1998 novel ''Złota mucha'' (''The Golden Fly'').

She wrote more than fifty novels. Most frequently, the protagonist is a woman called Joanna that inherits many characteristics from Chmielewska herself. She also often wrote about Joanna's friends like Alicja (''We Are All Suspects'', ''All in Red''), co-workers (''We Are All Suspects'', ''Wild Protein'') or family (''The Forefathers' Wells'', ''Bad Luck'').

In 2004, she was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wprost.pl/kraj/59685/przyznano-odznaczenia.html |language=pl |title=Przyznano odznaczenia |website=wprost.pl |date=3 May 2004 |access-date=29 July 2024}}</ref>

She died on 7 October 2013<ref>[http://culture.pl/en/article/joanna-chmielewska-passes-away Joanna Chmielewska Passes Away]</ref> and was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://warszawa.naszemiasto.pl/pogrzeb-joanny-chmielewskiej-autorka-kryminalow-spoczela-na/ar/c13-2031312#galeria |language=pl |title=Pogrzeb Joanny Chmielewskiej. Autorka kryminałów spoczęła na Powązkach |website=warszawa.naszemiasto.pl |date=14 October 2013 |access-date=29 July 2024}}</ref>

== Books == As of September 2008, there are no published English language translations of Chmielewska's work, and so the exact translation of the Polish titles into English can vary from source to source.

===Crime fiction=== {{Library resources box|by=yes|lcheading=Chmielewska, Joanna}} *1964 ''Klin'' (''The Wedge'') (In-context translation of the idiom: "Hair of the dog") **adapted into the feature film ''Lekarstwo na miłość'' (1966), directed by Jan Batory, starring Andrzej Łapicki and Kalina Jędrusik *1966 ''Wszyscy jesteśmy podejrzani'' (''We Are All Suspects'') *1969 ''Krokodyl z Kraju Karoliny'' (''The Crocodile from Caroline's Country'') *1972 ''Całe zdanie nieboszczyka'' (''Dead Man's Tale'') **adapted into the Russian television series ''Что сказал покойник'' (''Chto skazal pokojnik'', 2000) *1973 ''Lesio'' *1974 ''Wszystko czerwone'' (''All in Red'') **adapted into the Russian television series ''Пан или пропал'' (''Pan ili propal'', 1998) *1975 ''Romans wszechczasów'' (''The Romance of the Century'') *1976 ''Boczne Drogi'' (''Country Roads'') *1977 ''Upiorny legat'' (''A Ghastly Legacy'') **adapted into the feature film ''Skradziona kolekcja'' (1979), directed by Jan Batory *1979 ''Studnie przodków'' (''The Forefathers' Wells'') *1983 ''Duch'' (''Ghost'') *1990 ''Szajka bez końca'' (''The Endless Gang'') *1990 ''Ślepe szczęście'' (''Blind Fortune'') *1990 ''Dzikie białko'' (''Wild Protein'') *1992 ''Wyścigi'' (''The Horse Racing'') *1993 ''Tajemnica'' (''The Secret'') *1993 ''Drugi wątek'' (''Second Thread'') *1993 ''Florencja, córka Diabła'' (''Florence, Devil's daughter'') *1993 ''Zbieg okoliczności'' (''Coincidence'') *1994 ''Jeden kierunek ruchu'' (''One-Way Traffic'') *1994 ''Pafnucy'' *1995 ''Lądowanie w Garwolinie'' (''Landing in Garwolin'') *1996 ''Duża polka'' (''The Big Polka'') *1996 ''Dwie głowy i jedna noga'' (''Two heads and one leg'') *1996 ''Wielki diament'' (''The Diamond Story'') *1996 ''Jak wytrzymać z mężczyzną'' (''How to Cope with a Man'') *1996 ''Jak wytrzymać ze współczesną kobietą'' (''How to Cope with a Modern Woman'') *1997 ''Krowa niebiańska'' (''Holy Cow'') *1997 ''Hazard'' (''Risk'') *1998 ''Harpie'' (''Harpies'') *1998 ''Złota mucha'' (''The Golden Fly'') *1999 ''Depozyt'' (''The Deposit'') *1999 ''Najstarsza prawnuczka'' (''The Oldest Great Granddaughter'') *2000 ''Przeklęta bariera'' (''The Accursed Barrier'') *2000 ''Książka poniekąd kucharska'' (''A Sort of Cookery Book'') *2001 ''Trudny trup'' (''The Difficult Corpse'') *2001 ''Jak wytrzymać ze sobą nawzajem'' (''How to Cope with Each Other'') *2002 ''(Nie)boszczyk mąż'' (''The (In)animate Husband'') *2002 ''Pech'' (''Bad Luck'') *2003 ''Babski motyw'' (''Women's theme'') *2003 ''Bułgarski bloczek'' *2004 ''Kocie worki'' (''A Pig in a Poke'') *2005 ''Mnie zabić'' (''To Kill Myself'') *2005 ''Zapalniczka'' (''The Zipper'') *2006 ''Krętka blada'' (''Pale Spirochete'') *2007 ''Rzeź bezkręgowców'' (''Slaughter of Invertebrates'')

===Children's and young adult fiction=== *1974 ''Zwyczajne życie'' (''An Ordinary Life'') *1976 ''Większy kawałek świata'' (''Bigger part of the World'') *1979 ''Nawiedzony dom'' (''Haunted House'') *1981 ''Wielkie zasługi'' (''Great merit'') *1988 ''Skarby'' (''Treasures'') *1991 ''2/3 sukcesu'' (''2/3 of Success'') *1992 ''Ślepe szczęście'' (''Blind Luck'') *1993 ''Wszelki wypadek'' (''Every Case'') *1994 ''Pafnucy'' (''Pafnucy'') *2003 ''Las Pafnucego'' (''Pafnucy's Forest'')

===Non-fiction=== *1994 ''Jeden kierunek ruchu'' (''One-Way Traffic'') *1994 ''Autobiografia'' (''Autobiography'') *1996 ''Jak wytrzymać z mężczyzną'' (''How to Cope with a Man'') *1996 ''Jak wytrzymać ze współczesną kobietą'' (''How to Cope with a Modern Woman'') *1997 ''Hazard'' (''Risk'') *2000 ''Książka poniekąd kucharska'' (''A Sort of Cookery Book'') *2001 ''Jak wytrzymać ze sobą nawzajem'' (''How to Cope with Each Other'') *2005 ''Przeciwko babom!'' (''Against Hags!'') *2006 ''Autobiografia, tom 6 — Stare próchno'' (''Autobiography - Old Rotten'') *2007 ''Traktat o odchudzaniu'' (''The Treaty on Weight Loss'') *2008 ''Autobiografia, tom 7 — Okropności'' (''Autobiography - Horrors'')

==See also== *List of Polish writers *Polish literature *Marek Krajewski *Remigiusz Mróz

==References== <references />

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20130524220601/http://www.chmielewska.pl/index.php/biografia.html Official website (Archived)] *[https://archive.today/20130416073846/http://www.culture.pl/web/english/resources-literature-full-page/-/eo_event_asset_publisher/eAN5/content/joanna-chmielewska Culture.pl: Joanna Chmielewska] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120210213441/http://www.instytutksiazki.pl/en,ik,site,40,78,142.php Chmielewska Joanna] at the Instytut Książki (''Book Institute'', Polish Ministry of Culture) *{{IMDb name|0158578}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080915212539/http://www.chmielewska.art.pl/ Fan site]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chmielewska, Joanna}} Category:1932 births Category:2013 deaths Category:20th-century Polish women writers Category:21st-century Polish women writers Category:20th-century Polish novelists Category:21st-century Polish novelists Category:Polish mystery writers Category:Polish crime fiction writers Category:Polish designers Category:Warsaw University of Technology alumni Category:Polish women novelists Category:Women crime writers