Publisher: Agora | 2022

words Jacek Hugo-Bader

drawings Marta Ignerska

135 mm x 210 mm

Graphic Award:

PTWK 2021 (Polish Book Publishers Association / The Most Beautiful Polish Books) Award

Nagroda Krakowa MIasta Literatury UNESCO 2021

The European Science Fiction Society (ESFS) Award 2022

MUST HAVE Łódż Design Festival

IBBY 2021 The Book of The Year Prize – distinction

Nagroda im. Ferdynanda Wspaniałego – nomination

Publisher: Muchomor | 2021

words Stanisław Lem

graphic design and drawings Marta Ignerska

215 mm x 280 mm

The book introduces young readers to the world of SF through the works of Stanisław Lem, whose hundredth anniversary of birth we celebrated in the year of publication. Over twenty quotes from Lem’s works illustrated by Marta Ignerska show to children that SFF can be an extraordinary adventure. The book can function as a first step to becoming a reader of Fantasy and Science Fiction. (ESFS nomination)

The concept of learning to read and write has a nature of implementation, which is of particular importance for pedagogy. It allows using the latest achievements of psychology, cognitive science, and pedagogy to construct a model of learning to read, write, and speak, which breaks the current tradition of the methodical approach. The authors' concept is in line with the current world trends, especially in the field of constructivist didactics (in the cognitive sphere) and humanistic didactics (in the axiological sphere). Not only do they combine voice or syllable-centered approaches used by other authors in the initial phase of learning to read and write, but they go beyond linguistic thinking about this skill, providing an example of deeply holistic education. By seeking links between word, body, image, and thought, the authors use their key reservoir of categories and concepts to build a consistent and coherent project to develop children's thinking as well as reading and writing skills by working with text and image. The sounds present in the reading texts fit into children's everyday experience and their extraordinary imagination, whereas the sounds corresponding to the letters are not detached from life but are part of the plotline and carry the potential for adventure stories. The visual material, full of unusual artistic and pictorial associations, rich, original, encourages children's creativity, engages emotions and fantasy, stimulates thinking. Learning to read provides children with a full entrance into culture and experience, and not just decoding sequences of graphs and their literal meanings. In this way, it loses its formal character and is no longer reduced to a semi-mnemonic practice of oversimplified, shallow content. A child's reading becomes a kind of self and artistic expression. Only when children feel that reading, writing, and speaking bring significant values to their life, when we stimulate their abstract thinking, release their cognitive.

Graphic Awards:

IBBY 2017 The “Book of The Year Prize” - Graphic Award

Publisher: Wytwórnia

words Agnieszka Kowalska, Ewa Solarz, Agata Szydłowska

drawings Marta Ignerska, Jacek Ambrożewski, Edgar Bąk, Maciek Blaźniak, Katarzyna Bogucka, Ada Buchholc, Iwona Chmielewska, Robert Czajka, Agata Dudek, Emilia Dziubak, Małgorzata Gurowska, Monika Hanulak, Marta Ignerska, Tymek Jezierski, Paweł Jońca, Agata Królak, Grażka Lange, Patryk Mogilnicki, Piotr Młodożeniec, Ania Niemierko, Ola Niepsuj, Marianna Oklejak, Paweł Pawlak, Dawid Ryski, Marianna Sztyma

Graphic Awards:

PTWK 2017 (Polish Book Publishers Association) Award

BIB 2017 (Bienniall of Illustrations Bratislava) Honorary Mention

Publisher: Gang Design / Pani Jurek | 2017

Text: Dorota Masłowska

Format: 240 x 340 mm

Publisher: Wytwórnia | 2015

words Ludwik Jerzy Kern

illustrations Marta Ignerska (among others)

28 x 20 cm

Graphic Awards:

IBBY 2016 The “Book of The Year Prize”

PTWK Distinstion

White Ravens

Dobre Strony 2016 Award

Jury (IBBY):

To tell the story of Constantia Zierenberg, an incredibly gifted and well-educated citizen of seventeenth-century Gdańsk (Danzig), Anna Czerwińska-Rydel refers to famous works about mermaids. As a result, Zierenberg’s biography becomes a universal story about otherness. The title character is a curiosity: on the one hand, she is a well-known person, the highlight of social gatherings, on the other – an object of gossip, an oddity, not fitting the contemporary views on the woman’s role. 

The novel about lights and shadows of Constantia’s life, written in a beautiful language, tactfully shows the young reader that a woman’s dreams and desires are often defeated by everyday life. Maciej Skowera, PS IBBY

Jury (IBBY):

The life story of Elisabeth Hevelius, the first woman astronomer, is told here through two separate narratives,

in words and in pictures. The drawings are placed in complete, non-chronological sequence throughout the story, and in this way the artist has created an original, innovative preview, which can be looked at in isolation from the text. Well known for her bold experiments, Marta Ignerska has transferred the heroine’s earthly life to outer space, and in her dynamic, cubist style she has made her into a rocket-woman, seated her on a scooter, and put sports shoes on her (Converse sneakers!). She has emphasised the unique nature of this great person through formal gestures. The entire design is in three colours, white, yellow and black, used in contrast to reflect the brightness

of day or the darkness of night, and to achieve the effect of distinct characters playing the main and secondary roles in this thoroughly original graphic performance. This book is the first in a trilogy about the great women of Gdańsk, all designed by Marta Ignerska, who will enhance their originality. Małgorzata Cackowska

Jury (IBBY):

This book tells a story based on Surreal Execution, a picture painted in 1949 by

Andrzej Wróblewski. The horizontal arrangement of the rectangular canvas turns the traditional order by 90 degrees, so here we have top and bottom pages instead of left and right. Marta Ignerska’s graphic narrative is set on two planes: a realistic one, at the bottom (with dominant black-and-white drawings of the characters) and a visual one, at the top (featuring colourful abstract compositions). This division of spreads reminds one of Wróblewski’s figures, which

are cut in half by an invisible, tragic force. Calligraphy in the style of primary school children’s exercise books as a way of adding credibility to the text (an important stylistic element of the book’s artistry), is in perfect harmony with drawings derived straight from Picasso and his human figures, so emblematic of cubism. Thus associations with the chaos of Guernica seem justified.

A consistently grey background intensifies the brightness of the fluorescent pink that seems to scream out this sad story in intermittent phrases. Anita Wincenjusz-Patyna

Jury (IBBY):

The jury rewarded A True Fairy Tale for the unusual boldness of its design and for its entire visual concept. This is such a coherent, intriguing tale that you can’t wait to turn the next page, not just because of the suspense and the colourful whirl of action, but above all because of the graphic design. The artwork has a stunningly simple form (where elementary geometric shapes prevail, and the line of a spider’s thread runs through most of the story) makes sparing use of colour (apart from black and white, it only features the three primary colours), and is clearly inspired by neoplasticism. There are some charming ideas for presenting things in the most simple form possible, e.g.

a yellow circle means a sunny day, and a blue rectangle is the Côte d’Azur. At the same time,

the story of a holiday adventure with a spider is set on the pages of a twentieth-century art history book (including works by Mondrian, Malevich’s squares, minimal art, op-art,constructivism, Italian futurism and Soviet poster art among other topics). The consistent design of each element of the book – the endpapers, lettering, title page, and the two little spiders at the foot of each page – brilliantly complement a series of spreads in which there appears to be nothing happening (but how much room is left to the imagination!). A True Fairy Tale is a true masterpiece of the highest quality in the art of book design. Anita Wincenjusz-Patyna

Publisher: LektorKlett | 2009

illustrations Marta Ignerska

21 x 29 cm

An excellent geographical series for slightly older readers (from seven up). Each continent has its own separate volume, illustrated by a different artist. A multitude of bigger and smaller crumbs of knowledge that come together to shape the child’s ideas about faraway countries. The reader can study them bit by bit, or read at greater length, depending on need and desire.

This is quite a challenge for the illustrator: how do you avoid getting lost in such a dense forest of information? Ignerska’s distinctive, powerful illustrations bring to mind the style of African art and harmonise superbly with the text. Departing from the stereotypical didactic illustration, in other words dull realism, Ignerska has reconciled the essential educational content with the boldness and panache of her illustrations. The result is a unique “realism à la Marta Ignerska” – we have no doubt we are looking at an elephant, but at the same time it is a delightful, original elephant – because Ignerska created it. This is a strong work with a harmonious style.

Publisher: Wytwórnia | 2009

words Uri Orlev

design Marta Ignerska

38,5 x 28,5 cm

Graphic Awards:

IBBY Distinstion

Jury (IBBY):

Written in Jerusalem a quarter of a century ago, Granny Does Some Knitting is the story of an energetic old woman equipped with a pair of magical knitting needles and a ball of yarn, with the help of which she can conjure up all manner of essential items. She comes from nowhere. Tired of her futile search for shelter, she takes out her enchanted knitting needles. Thanks

to their magical powers, a cosy home springs up on an empty potato patch, with a bed, a table laid for a meal and a chipped teapot. Soon a couple of grandchildren, also knitted on the needles, are playing happily in the house. Until one fine day, Granny decides to take the children to school, where their odd woollen characteristics prompt anger and consternation. No one wants the knitted children, and they are treated like outsiders.
The young graphic artist Marta Ignerska has superbly interpreted the character of this very special, ambiguous tale. She has illustrated it with stark, grotesque pictures. These audacious drawings immediately won the author’s enthusiastic approval.

It is a fine testimony to the Polish publishing market that there are publishers and readers ready for challenging books that go against the grain of run-of-the-mill or kitsch tastes. An extremely creative and uncompromising artist, Marta Ignerska is a very promising herald of what’s new in Polish graphics.

Publisher: Znak | 2008

words Przemysław Wechterowicz

design Marta Ignerska

28 x 40 cm

Graphic Awards:

IBBY Distinction

PTWK Distinction

The White Ravens

Seoul International Book Fair Honorable Mentions

Jury (IBBY):

An extraordinary contrast between daily life and festivity: the book’s huge format means you cannot look at it in

an odd moment, on the bus or in a queue – it has to be something you do deliberately, which is in contrast to its “sketchy” style and light, open form. The pictorial narrative partners the text in some absurd associations.

This book has verve and is superbly funny.
It encourages thought and creative play.
It has won the distinction for its wealth of forms and for inviting the reader into a world of lively artistic imagination.

La Joie de LIre:

+ – est un livre singulier, original, très graphique dont chaque double page est composée d’une page noire et d’une page blanche comme un positif et un négatif de photographie. Chaque double page présente des contraires : réveillé et endormi, ami et ennemi, constructeur et destructeur, fort et faible, chaud et froid, guerre et paix…

Dans un style très marqué Europe de l’Est, à coups de crayon et de stylo bille acérés, tranchants même,

Marta Ignerska allie culture picturale, humour et imagination.

Un album pour petits comme pour grands.

Jury (IBBY):

A big book about a big viaduct and some big emotions. It is incredibly spacious and full of energy, creating its own separate world. The harmony of the literary and graphic concepts is

a pleasant surprise. It is truly elemental, pulsating with dynamism. Each spread offers a different compositional idea. The reader’s eye wanders across long diagonals, but the horizontal and vertical axes don’t let you stop for breath either. You can just about hear the world as seen

by the viaduct’s hungry eyes. The images have something in common with the constructivist photomontages of Alexander Rodchenko and the expression of abstract painting. The viaduct himself has the features of Pablo Picasso’s Minotaur, inviting readers of any age to enter the boundless wealth of the world of art. Here we find humour, subtlety and courage, as well as graphic virtuosity. Krystyna Rybicka

Jury (Bologna Ragazzi Award):

This book presents us with an authentically different graphic tradition from our own, marking a break no less powerful than the Gutenberg revolution.The illustrations do not hail from just one genealogy; they have not been created with reference to just one artistic school or tradition. Elements from ancient styles, snippets of the most recent visual expressionism, and passing references to a wealth

of authors, eras, hybrid styles and traditions have been harness with consummate skill to put sound and rhythm into graphic form. Everything is bound together by a unifying element: a lightness of touch, that ineffable and disquieting lightness of touch so dear to Italo Calvino. The numerous references ironically left as clues on the pages beg to be studied and classified. However, the sheer novelty

of this book defies all critical assault. The graphic narrative often reveals a playful freshness that is difficult to place. Refined yet joyously carnivalesque, its world is a children’s playground. Antonio Faeti

Publisher: Hokus-Pokus | 2023

words Marta Lipczyńska-Gil

drawings Marta Ignerska

215 mm x 245 mm