40 million books sold, translated into 49 languages! Their author would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.

Stanisław Lem was a visionary, a brilliant writer of science-fiction literature who, a few decades ago, foresaw the emergence of social media, among other things. On the centenary of his birth, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland has established 2021 as the “Year of Lem”. As part of the celebrations, an International Scientific Conference devoted to Lem’s works will be held in November, organized by the University of Gdańsk. The organizers declare that they are interested in the writer’s works “in the perspective of new approaches to science fiction and contemporary methods of its interpretation, taking into account questions about the author’s phantasms, futurological, philosophical and political aspects of his prose, his attitude to technology and science”. Contact the organizers:

konferencja.lem@ug.edu.pl

The SOL.AR.IS project is a tribute to the writer through the SOL.AR.IS mobile application, which enables visual contact with fantastic entities inspired by Lem’s works and created by 3D imaging artists from all over the world. There are virtual 3D objects, different forms of life, mysterious and fascinating, creations of the cytoplasmic, intelligent ocean, covering the planet Solaris, described in the cult book under the same title.

The application uses modern augmented reality (AR) technology and is available for free download from the AppStore or Google Play. The application was presented by the Photon Foundation.

In your free time you can reach for one of 365 quotes for the Year of Lem. It is an initiative in which the website https://roklema.pl/365-cytatow-na-rok-lema/ presents a different, significant fragment of Lem’s work on each day of the Year in three languages: Polish, English and Russian.

“Not everything of what is possible can be understood by man“. This is the quote for March 11, and according to many, it is a great starting point for reading this excellent writer.

More on Stanislaw Lem’s work at www.lem.pl