A Canadian writer who has gained sympathy and fame in Poland thanks to the book “Freedom Climbers” describing the golden era of Polish mountaineering. She spent a lot of time in our country, travelling throughout it and talking with climbers like Krzysztof Wielicki, Wojciech Kurtyka, Janusz Majer, Artur Hajzer, Maciej Berbeka and Krystyna Palmowska.

For many years Bernadette was the director of the Banff Mountain Festival (Canada)-one of the largest and most important events in the world. She initiated and developed the book competition in Banff-it was previously only a film festival.

Frequently she has visited mountain festivals- she came to Lądek for the first time in 2013 and was awarded for the Promoting Mountain Culture.

Bernadette’s work is already the classics of mountain literature. In 2011 the author “won everything that was to win” — Banff Mountain Festival Grand Prize in Canada and the very prestigious British award- the Boardman Tasker Prize. The license for “Freedom Climbers” has been sold to many countries and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute bought the English edition to promote Poland abroad. She is also the author of books about Slovenian climbers: “Alpine Warriors” (2016) and “Tomaž Humar” (2012).

This year will be released, for the moment only in English, the biography of Wojtek Kurtyka, written by Bernadette and entitled: “The Art of Freedom. The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka “. We will have to wait for the Polish translation until next year, but you can order now the English edition which can be picked up at the Festival Office from 21st September.