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Magdalena Ochwat – PhD, Institute of Literary Studies, Silesian University in Katowice, Poland.
Her research interests revolve around Polish language education, including the use of reportage in education and the social responsibility of literature. She is also interested in talking (through literature) about 21st-century challenges, such as migration, climate change, and multiculturalism. Publications: Poezja paradoksów, paradoksy w poezji: poetycka teologia Jana Twardowskiego, Janusza Pasierba, Wacława Oszajcy [The Poetry of Paradoxes – the Paradoxes in Poetry. The Poetic Theology of Jan Twardowski, Janusz Stanisław Pasierb and Wacław Oszajca] (Katowice 2014), (Wy)czytać świat z reportaży – wokół edukacji globalnej [Read the World from the Reportages – Around Global Education], in: Literatura i globalizacja [Literature and Globalisation] (Siedlce 2017), Katedra – synagoga – meczet o (od)czytywaniu symboli religijnych na lekcji polskiego [A Catherdral — A Synagogue — A Mosque. On Interpreting Religious Symbols during Polish Language Classes] (Katowice 2016).
E-mail: magdalena.ochwat@us.edu.pl

Gabriela Olchowa – Associate Professor, PhD, Department of Slavonic Languages, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.
Author of over 40 articles on linguistic etiquette and the language of religion in comparative terms. She is also involved in glottodidactics, in particular the development of sociocultural competence. Her interests include Polish and Slovak relations and translation criticism. She published a monograph entitled Przejawy perswazji w strukturze siedemnastowiecznych kazań polskiego kaznodziei Szymon Starowolski [Manifestations of Persuasion in the Structure of 17th-century Sermons of the Polish Preacher Szymon Starowolski]. In addition, she is the editor of the volumes: Výučba slovanských jazykov ako cudzích v slovanskom prostredí – súčasnosť a perspektívy; Język Polski i Kultura 1. Język, literatura i kultura w dydaktyce języka polskiego jako obcego [Language and Culture 1. Language, Literature and Culture in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language]; Język Polski i Kultura 2. Między dawnymi a nowymi czasy. Język – Literatura – Kultura – Media [Language and Culture 2. Between Old and New Times. Language – Literature – Culture – Media] and the co-editor of the monograph Słowiański dialog kulturowy. Studia leksykalne i gramatyczne [Slavonic Cultural Dialogue. Lexical and Grammatical Studies]. Since 2012, she has been co-leading the Centre of Polish Language and Culture at the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica.
E-mail: gabriela.olchowa@umb.sk

Grzegorz Olszański – PhD, Institute of Literary Studies, Faculty of Philology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
He works as an assistant professor in the Department of Historical Poetics and the Art of Interpretation. His interests include modern poetry, the art of interpretation, and music. He is the author of a book on Ewa Lipska’s poetry Śmierć udomowiona [Domesticated Death] (2006), a collection of essays Apelacje. Szkice o literaturze i przygodach jej twórców [Appeals. The Sketches on Literature and the Adventures of Its Creators] (2012) and the monograph Wiek męski: epopeja rozkładu. Studia o motywach senilnych w poezji polskiej po 1989 roku [Age of Manhood: the Epic of Decay. Motifs of Senility in Polish poetry after 1989] (2015). In 2013, his collection of poems Starzy nieznajomi [Old Strangers] was nominated for the Wrocław “Silesius” Poetry Award in the category “Book of the Year”. He is also the music editor for the quarterly magazine “Opcje” [Options].
E-mail: olsza2001@poczta.fm

Tereza Ondruszová – MA, Department of Slavonic Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic.
PhD student at the Department of Slavonic Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ostrava; researcher of the Polish-Czech linguistic borderland. The main focus of her studies is a church-based, Roman Catholic environment. She is also a translator and teacher of the Polish language. She has published the results of her research in “Poradnik Językowy” [The Linguistic Guide] and “Studia Slavica”, among others.
E-mail: terka.o@centrum.cz

Danuta Opacka-Walasek – Professor, Doctor habilitatus, Institute of Literary Studies, Faculty of Philology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
Author of the books: „…pozostać wiernym niepewnej jasności”. Wybrane problemy poezji Zbigniewa Herberta [“…to remain faithful to unreliable brightness…” Selected Problems of Zbigniew Herbert’s Poetry] (1996), Czytając Herberta [Reading Herbert] (2001), Chwile i eony. Obrazy czasu w polskiej poezji drugiej połowy XX wieku [Moments and Eons. Visions of Time in Polish Poetry of the Latter Half of the 20th Century] (2005) and numerous dissertations concerning Polish poetry of the 20th century (including Z. Herbert’s and C. Miłosz’s) published in magazines and collective volumes.
E-mail: danuta.opacka-walasek@us.edu.pl

Danuta Ostaszewska – Professor, Doctor habilitatus, Institute of Polish Language, Faculty of Philology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
Long-standing Head of the Department of the History of Polish Language. During the research, she addresses issues of historical and contemporary Polish and presents them using instruments of modern linguistics. Her publications cover linguistic disciplines such as phonetics and phonology, syntax, stylistics, cultural linguistics, text theory, and genology. She is the author of monographs: Organizacja tekstu a problem gromadzenia i scalania jego informacji [Text Organisation and the Problem of Collecting and Integrating Its Information] (1991); Język poetycki Jana Andrzeja Morsztyna. Z zagadnień semantyki [The Poetic Language of Jan Andrzej Morsztyn. Issues of Semantics] (1993); Postać w literaturze. Wizerunek staropolski [A Character in the Literature. The Old Polish Image] (2001); Przeobrażenia składni jako wyznacznik tendencji innowatorskich w prozie artystycznej drugiej połowie XX wieku [Syntactic Transformations as an Indicator of Innovative Tendencies in the Artistic Prose in the Second Half of the 20th Century] (2005). She is also the co-author of the academic textbook Fonetyka i phonologia współczesnego języka polskiego [Phonetics and Phonology of Contemporary Polish] (several editions) and the book Polszczyzna XVII wieku – stan i ewolucja [Polish Language of the 17th Century – Status and Evolution] (2002). Her recent research focused on the formation of speech genres in the Polish language, initiating a series of dissertations entitled Gatunki mowy i ich ewolucja [Speech Genres and their Evolution] and the PWN series Zagadnienia i problemy współczesnej genologii [Issues and Problems of Contemporary Genology] (co-editor R. Cudak). She is a member of the Committee on Linguistics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Katowice Branch), the Polish Linguistic Society, the Society of Polish Language Enthusiasts and the Stylistic Commission of the Linguistics Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
E-mail: danutaostaszewska@wp.pl