The Department of Literature, Culture and Communication has existed since 1 November 2025 (previously functioning as the Department of Russian Literature and Culture). It consists of 11 members: 7 research and teaching staff (1 full professor, 1 university professor, 5 assistant professors with research-and-teaching duties) and 4 teaching staff (1 teaching assistant professor and 3 lecturers). The research-and-teaching staff are affiliated with the discipline of literary studies.

Department Staff

Head: Prof. Anna Warda, DLitt

Dr hab. Zofia Brzozowska, Prof. of the University of Łódź

Dr Ełona Curkan-Dróżka

Dr Zoja Kuca

Dr Ewa Sadzińska

Dr Anna Stępniak

Dr Aleksandra Szymańska

MA Ewa Bojanowska

MA Anna Rodak

MA Agata Rzodkiewicz

MA Paulina Sikora-Krizhevska

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Scope and Topics of Research Conducted in the Department

• Culture, literature and history of the Eastern Slavs from the 10th to the 16th century

• Influence of Byzantine civilization on the culture of Slavia Orthodoxa

• Spiritual culture and literary heritage of Orthodox Slavs in the Balkans (Bulgarians and Serbs) in the Middle Ages and their ties with Eastern Europe

• Medieval Church Slavonic texts, Cyrillic manuscripts

• History of women in medieval Europe

• Russian literature and culture from the 18th to the 21st century

• Contemporary Russian poetry

• Contemporary Russian drama; documentary theatre

• Contemporary women’s prose in Russian, Polish and Ukrainian

• Genre studies

• Geoculturology

• Occasional literature

• Intertextuality and dialogicity in literature and culture

• “Eternal images” in Russian literature (Don Juan)

• Literature and journalism in Russian-language press in Łódź

• Émigré literature

• Reception of the classics in contemporary Russian literature

• Culture from the semiotic perspective

• Poetics and semantics of space in literature

• Egodocuments

• Contemporary Polish, Russian and Ukrainian reportage

• Interpersonal and non-verbal communication

• Glottodidactics

• Sight translation

• Business language

• Coaching

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Teaching Activities

The Department’s staff teach course classes (lectures and seminars) on Russian literature and culture from the 11th to the 21st century, introduction to literary studies, selected issues in the history of Russian film and theatre, the image of contemporary Russia in journalistic and press genres, conversation classes and practical Russian language courses, specialist courses and Block B courses, as well as BA and MA seminars in Russian Philology.

They also teach practical Russian language courses and literature–culture modules in the programmes International Journalism and Business Linguistics, Block B classes in Polish Studies, Polish Studies with English, and at the Institute of Contemporary Culture.

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Most Important Publications by Department Staff (Past 5 Years)

Monographs

• Zofia Brzozowska, [co-auth. Mirosław J. Leszka, Teresa Wolińska] Muhammad and the Origin of Islam in the Byzantine-Slavic Literary Context. A Bibliographical History, Łódź – Kraków 2020

• Zofia Brzozowska, Chadidża i jej czarnookie siostry…, Łódź 2021

• Anna Stępniak, Genre and Stylistic Determinants of Boris Pasternak’s Love Letters, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2020

• Anna Warda, On the Theory and Practice of Literary Borrowings in Russia in the 18th Century, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2020

• Anna Warda, The Łódź Remake of Alexander Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2023

• Zofia Brzozowska, Sofia – the Personified Divine Wisdom. The History of the Motif in Byzantine-Slavic Culture, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2024

• Anna Warda, The Demon in Łódź. Further Adventures of the Protagonist of Mikhail Lermontov’s “Demon”, Księży Młyn, Łódź 2024

Textbooks

• Zoja Kuca, Ełona Curkan-Dróżka, Ewa Bojanowska, Elena Nevzorova-Kmech, Anna Rodak, Легко и просто, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2021

• Same authors, Легко и просто, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2024

Edited Volumes

• Widmo Mahometa, cień Samuela…, eds. Z.A. Brzozowska, M.J. Leszka, K. Marinow, T. Wolińska, University of Łódź Press, 2020

• The World Represented in Literature, Culture and Language, eds. A. Warda, A. Stępniak, University of Łódź Press, 2020

• Migrations in the Slavic Cultural Space, eds. Z.A. Brzozowska, P. Kręzel, I. Lis-Wielgosz, University of Łódź Press, 2022

• Budzi się Łódź… Images of the City – Between Literature and Journalism. Anthology, Part II, eds. K. Kołodziej, M. Kucner, A. Warda, University of Łódź Press, 2022

• Dictionary of the Literary Culture of Łódź until 1939, eds. K. Badowska et al., including A. Warda, University of Łódź Press, 2022

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Externally Funded Research Projects

Project leader – Dr hab. Zofia Brzozowska, Prof. UŁ

1. Muhammad and the Birth of Islam…, NCN OPUS 12, 2017–2021

2. Russian translation and publication of the monograph “Sofia – the Personified Divine Wisdom”…, NPRH Universalia 2.1, 2020–2024

3. Hamartolos Rediscovered…, NCN OPUS 24, 2023–2027

Project member – Dr hab. Zofia Brzozowska, Prof. UŁ

1. Dualist Heresies in the History of Southeast Europe, NCN HARMONIA 8, 2017–2021

2. Polemical Literature of Orthodox Slavs in the Middle Ages, NCN HARMONIA 9, 2018–2023

3. Linguistic Diversity of Slavia Orthodoxa at the Dawn of Modernity, NCN Beethoven Classic 4, 2022–2026

4. In the Shadow of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Russian Imperial Myth? The Kyiv Synopsis…, NPRH Universalia 2.2, 2023–2027

Project member – Prof. Anna Warda

1. Literary Culture of Łódź until 1939, NPRH, 2015–2022

2. Everyday Life in the Industrial City in the Light of Łódź Press Columns (1863–1918), NPRH, 2024–2029

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International and National Cooperation

• Institute of Slavic Studies in Giessen (Germany)

• Institute of Slavic Studies in Regensburg (Germany)

• National and Kapodistrian University in Aydın (Turkey)

• University of Melbourne (Australia)

• University of Ottawa (Canada)

• Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford

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Teaching Activities

• Cyclical online meetings of the International Round Table of Students of Russian Studies (head: Dr Zoja Kuca)

• Cyclical online meetings of the International Round Table of Russian Studies Teachers (head: Dr Zoja Kuca)

• Participation in the teaching project Reading as a Challenge at the Faculty of Modern Languages, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

• Participation in the international educational-research project In Search of Hidden Meanings, also at AMU Poznań

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Other Activities

The journal Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Rossica (40 points) is edited within the Department (and from November 2026 within the Institute of East European Studies). Editor-in-chief: Dr Ewa Sadzińska; scientific secretary: Dr Aleksandra Szymańska.

The Department also hosts the Culturological Student Research Circle (supervisor: Dr Anna Stępniak).