Tomasz Cieślak, PhD, Professor at the University of Łódź, is Deputy Director of the Institute of Polish Philology and Logopedics at the University of Łódź. He is a literary historian and critic, writing primarily about Polish poetry and prose of the 20th and 21st centuries.

His published monographs include W poszukiwaniu ostatecznej tajemnicy. Szkice o polskiej literaturze XX wieku i najnowszej (In Search of the Ultimate Secret. Essays on 20th Century Polish and Contemporary Literature, 2009), Nowa poezja polska wobec poprzedników. Lektura relacyjna (New Polish Poetry in the Face of Its Predecessors. Relational Reading, 2011), and Łódź. Szkice o literaturze, przestrzeni i historii (Łódź. Essays on Literature, Space, and History, 2023).

He is also a co-editor and co-author of several collective works, including Literatura polska 1990–2000 (Polish Literature 1990–2000), vols. 1–2 (2002), and Nowa poezja polska. Twórcy – tematy – motywy (New Polish Poetry. Creators – Themes – Motifs, 2009).

A separate area of his scholarly activity involves the cultural borderland and regional literary life. His contributions include the co-editing of Słownik kultury literackiej Łodzi do 1939 r. (Dictionary of Łódź Literary Culture until 1939, 2022), “Budzi się Łódź…”. Obrazy miasta w literaturze do 1939 roku. Antologia (“Łódź is Awakening…” Images of the City in Literature until 1939. Anthology, 2020), and City of Modernity. Łódź (Wiesbaden, 2023).