Marek Oramus. -Are you aware of the fact that in Poland you practically don't exist? I've been to a public library and haven't found any of your books. It's a long time since your works appeared in bookshops, and your plays are not being staged. You are frequently published abroad where you enjoy greater popularity than in your own country. I hear there are Mr Cogito clubs in America.

There is a periodical in America called Mr Cogito, but I haven't heard of any clubs. You must have confused me with Playboy. I know I do not exist in Poland but I cannot help it. I don't plead with publishers or cultural policy-makers. They know, or at least should know, what they are doing.

You left Poland in 1976 and returned in 1980. Historic dates. Is this significant or was it coincidence?

It was and it wasn't. I had an invitation that made the journey possible. I did not quite know what to do here. If you write, you want to be published. Such is the unfortunate characteristic of the profession. Then the time comes when you are not published and people are not even allowed to utter your name. Well, you feel you've got to do something with your life instead of just doing nothing and, as we put it, picking your nose or, worse, blaming fortune.

Now that you ...