This is a special year for us. We are celebrating 25 years of our Publishing House. In the catalogue, in addition to the titles that we plan to publish this year, you can find a summary of our activity over the past years.

It all began with authors visiting us…
… when in February B.A. Paris, a highly-appreciated author of psychological thrillers, came to Poland. We had then also the privilege to host Lee Child, a creator of Jack Reacher, famous fictional character, and Graham Masterton, an author with whom we have been friends for years. Readers’ hearts and minds were won by the novel Wonder, made into film starring Julia Roberts, which opened in theatres across Poland in January. The end of the year was marked with a premiere of Elevation by Stephen King, in which the author brings us back to his favourite town of Castle Rock.

What a year! A debut-novel written by B.A. Paris, Behind Closed Doors, remained on bestseller lists for almost the entire year, while The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards (it was also acclaimed “A Book of the Year 2017” in Poland by Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI). In 2017 our beloved author, Kazuo Ishiguro, received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Thrillers and Crime Fiction Dominated! Stephen King’s End of Watch, the final volume of Mr. Mercedes series, was published in June. Harlan Coben’s Stanger and Donato Carrisi’s L’Ipotesi Del Male were among the readers’ favourite picks. Tess Gerritsen, leading writer of medical thrillers, visited Poland for the first time, to attend the premiere of her book Playing with Fire.

A bit of everything. King was back with his new crime fiction Finders Keepers, Lee Child brought us new thriller Personal, Ian McEwan – a touching Children Act, whereas John Cleese, cofounder of the legendary Monty Python’s Flying Circus, surprised us with his autobiography entitled So Anyway.

What a book!
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King proves its ingenious author’s brilliance not only in the horror fiction genre but also in building dreadful criminal plotlines. Readers awaiting the last volume of The Century Trilogy by Ken Follet could finally get the new release, Edge of Eternity. The year was also marked by the release of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather audiobook, a grand production which involved several dozens of actors and had Janusz Gajos as the leading character.
As for team Albatros, we made our debut as directors of a concert and flash-mob event at the Warsaw Central Station. This, being part of a promotional campaign of a composer Burt Bacharach’s biography, was certainly a memorable moment!

Long-awaited new novel…
… entitled And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, author of an acclaimed The Kite Runner, was finally released. Jöel Dicker’s novel The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, a French-language bestseller, which was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt, turned out to be a sensation on our market. Your favourite writers didn’t let us down either: Lee Child, Guillaume Musso and Stephen King.
And we were asking ourselves the entire year: how many broken hearts did Jöel Dicker leave upon his visit to Poland?

By the end of the year we had published over 1000 books…
…since the establishment of Albatros! We were proud to have published acclaimed books, such as Stephen Greenblatt’s Theswerve. How the world became modern, which received the Pulitzer Prize among others. Jeffery Deaver made his debut in Albatros Publishing House, bringing an awaited since 2011, mysterious Carte Blanche. Moreover, in 2012 some world-famous writers joined us, particularly John Grisham and Tom Clancy.

Few could brag about their rock and roll life but year 2011 saw Keith Richard’s biography being published. Simply entitled Life. Autobiography is an account of a living-legend of music. The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking, the most renowned British scientist, written in collaboration with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow was the second outstanding non-fiction release of 2011. The book is an attempt to prove the Big Bang had been an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics.

It was intense back then!
Dan Brown was back with his third book on the intrepid Robert Langdon’s endeavours, entitled The Lost Symbol.
Brilliant screen adaptation of Robert Harris’ Ghostwritter, directed by Roman Polański, strengthened the writer’s position in the industry. Ken Follet brought a new historic saga to the public, The Century Trilogy. The first volume entitled Fall of Giants was published in 2010.
As for dessert, we published Why Italians Love to Talk about Food by Elena Kostioukovitch, which took us on a lovely journey through sunny Italy, to places where cuisine is considered art.

We began to publish a new series of fiction
encompassing suchdistinctive titles as Almost Moon by Alice Sebold, A Mercy by a Nobel laureate, Toni Morrison, orre-editions of novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan and Doris Lessing. We published a debut-fantasy novel Dziecko Gwiazd. Atlantyda of a remarkably talented sixteen-year-old Michalina Olszańska. Apart from writing, she was also playing violin, composing and singing. She is now regarded as a shooting star of Polish cinematography.

Beyond commercial fiction (best-sellers by Harlan Coben, Nicholas Sparks, Lauren Weisberger), Albatros published some distinguished writers, among others, Doris Lessing, awarded with a Nobel Prize in Literature the preceding year, and Khaled Hosseini, A thousand splendid suns. Legendary Robert Ludlum joined our bevy of thrillers and crime fiction writers. We also published Poczekajka, by Katarzyna Michalak, a debut novelist. Yet, the most note-worthy book of the year happened to be Anticancer: A New Way of Life by dr David Servan-Schreiber, which brought hope to millions of patients fighting with cancer or at risk of developing the disease. In 2008 we ceased to publish the popular π series.

And the Book of the Year goes to…
…Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones, the greatest Spanish bestseller since Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind. Other distinguished titles of the year include Mao by Jung Chang, the author of Wild Swans, and The Island by Victoria Hislop. We also introduced our readers to a re-edition of the fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials, as its Book 1 film adaptation, The Golden Compass, opened in theatres in December that year. As for another good note, we published all novels by J.D. Salinger for the first time in Albatros.

The Devil Wears Prada is a dark horse of bestseller lists!
Re-edition of this humorous novel by Lauren Weisberger, published in relation to the screen adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, stole hearts of many. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown beat the record of popularity for the third time in a row, merely giving way to the next volume of Harry Potter. Harlan Coben did not let us down, bringing on The Innocent and Back Spin, nor did Frederick Forsyth (The Afghan).
We are now 3 people in Team Albatros!

Kazuo Ishigurovisited Poland promoting his newly published book Never Let Me Go, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He still recalls the taste of Polish donuts and his stay in Warsaw. Dan Brown continued to lead in bestseller lists and was awarded As Empiku for foreign fiction for the second time. Harlan Coben reinforced his position with a novel Just One Look, whereas Stephen King had his two last volumes of The Dark Tower saga published. Wojciech Dutka, historian by profession, makes his debut as the first Polish writer in Albatros, with his novel Krew faraonów.