My name is Marek Kuzniewski. I'm a publisher, writer, translator.
I arrived in England almost 30 years ago, in 1985. Poland was under communist occupation.
Myself, my mother and my younger sister got a political asylum.
Strange colour clouds that form in spring, sound of time reversing.
What I've done for the past 10 years is worked in prison as a teacher, as a creative writing tutor
and as a prison governor, working with human rights, trade unions, charities, but also working very much with the arts.
It taught me that art literally saves lives, and being able to tell and retell your own story is essential.
Intersection is a creative hub where a lot of interesting projects happen.
Publishing a magazine, making books, making films, hosting events.
The building is a way to bring people together.
Creative migrants and people who've been in some kind of custody, secure hospitals, prisons, refugee centres.
I don't know where I feel most comfortable in London. There's as many Londoners as there are postcodes.
It's a very tidy place, it's a very polite place.
Architecturally it's a mess, culturally it's a wonderful success in merging so many cultures.
But on the other hand we do lose a lot through the pace of life, which is too fast.
It's not a place where one would want to live forever.
I think there's a sense in England that the comfort zone has been reached.
Poland is in a state of flux and that's why it's exciting.
It's a vibrant, vibrant culture with a very turbulent history. It's powerfully damaged by it.
I think I see that even in young people arriving from Poland today, we carry with us quite a lot of trauma,
quite a lot of issues around how confident we feel about ourselves, around feeling like rightful Europeans.
Books are often described as a window to the world. Through them we can see both our immediate environment and also distant countries increasingly connected to our own.
In the 21st century, those who used to be outsiders, some migrants, are actually insiders.
Being a native stuck in one place, being someone who's never been around the world, who's never learned different languages
and living the same life as you've always led, means that you're limited.
I think it's a very important part of the history of Poland.
It's a very important part of the history of Poland.
It's a very important part of the history of Poland.
