Crowing of roosters, crying of dogs

Wojciech Tochman chooses very difficult topics. The reporter is convinced that today, due to the large amount of information about human suffering, they are increasingly devalued. Therefore, each of his books is a reminder, an attempt to stir empathy, to push the reader to his own research on the topic of punishing evil, because without it, terrible crimes will be repeated.

"Crown of Roosters, Crying of Dogs" is about Cambodia and the people who survived the genocide by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. Two million Cambodians became victims of the rule of the communist dictatorial regime led by Pol Pot.

Four decades after the terrible events, Wojciech Tochman tells the stories of the survivors and the dead. The author puts the reader in front of someone else's suffering. And if a person wants to be sympathized with, he must first learn to sympathize with others and not look away.

Wojciech Tokhman is a Polish journalist and reporter. From 1990 to 2004, he worked as a reporter at Gazeta Wyborcza. In 1999, he founded the ITHAKA Foundation, which searches for the dead and helps their families. He works there as a volunteer.

Together with Polish reporters Mariusz Schigel and Pawel Guzlinski, he founded the Institute of Reportage and the reporter shop-café "The Boiling of the World" in Warsaw. Since 2010, he has been hosting the author's program "The Boiling of the World" on the TOK FM radio.

​​​Wrote ten reporting books, including "Stairs do not smoke", "Daughter", "Mad dog", "You ate like a stone", "Today we will draw death".

Two-time finalist of the prestigious Nike Literary Award (2001, 2003), in particular for the book "You ate like a stone"; "Reporter of the Year" (1998) according to Gazeta Wyborcza readers; nominee for the Award named after Dariush Fikus (2002); finalist of the Prix RFI "Témoin du Monde" of Radio France International (2004); nominee for the Award named after Ryshard Kapuscinski (2011).