Pyrkon’s Guests

Mighty warriors of the galaxy! Gloryhammer returns from its legendary battles, along with more epic tales captured within a power metal saga. Founded in 2010, the band has released four albums full of heroic struggles between good and evil. The formation is in partnership with Napalm Records, and Christopher Bowes, leader of the Scottish group Alestorm, is the one responsible for its creation. Their latest album, Return to the Kingdom of Fife, tells the story of Angus McFife II and his faithful companions: Hootsman, Ralathor and Proletius, who face the merciless sorcerer Zargothrax.
Gloryhammer’s work draws on the rich heritage of power metal bands that drew inspiration for their music from fantasy. Playing around with convention, the band combines high fantasy and sci-fi themes to create its unique, distinctive style.

One of the four authors who, in the years 2003–2017, adopted the pseudonym Erin Hunter. Editor of several dozen books from the iconic Warriors series. She was responsible, among others, for coming up with titles and making sure consistency of the series stays intact.
Privately, a horse lover and a happy owner of one steed. If she were a cat, she would belong to the Wind Clan and be called Mouse Paw.

Tim Downie is an actor, writer and podcaster who has worked on such films as the award-winning The King’s Speech, Paddington and Les Miserable. He’s currently appearing in Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose opposite Simon Pegg and Minnie Driver, and How To Date Billy Walsh with Sebastian Croft and Charithra Chandran.
TV work includes the multi-award-winning Peep Show, Upstart Crow, Chewing Gum, Toast of London, Toast of Tinseltown, Plebs, and Outlander. He can currently be seen on Amazon Prime’s Good Omens 2, Big Mood with Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West for Channel 4 and Geek Girl, a brand-new series for Netflix based on the best-selling books.

His game debut was playing Gale of Waterdeep in Larian’s worldwide smash, Baldur’s Gate III.
He also co-hosts and co-writes the hit podcast FolkLands which is listened to in over 120 countries worldwide.

Patricia is the #1 New York Times best selling author of both the Mercy Thompson series and the Alpha and Omega series; she has written thirty books to date and has no intention of stopping! In addition to her two urban fantasy series, she has written fantasy novels, short stories in several anthologies, and also a series of comic books and graphic novels based on her Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series.
Patty was born in Butte, Montana, back in 1965. If you’re good at math, you’ll have deduced that she’s currently twenty-nine. In fact, she’s been twenty-nine for a while and has no intention of getting any older. Fiction authors don’t obey the laws of space and time, they invent them.
Patty is a prevarication professional. She lies for a living, telling whoppers and fibs so outrageous that people pay her to fib some more. Her only concession to honesty is that she tells people she’s lying to them, which is what separates a fiction author from a politician. She loves to play with her imaginary friends, and meeting with readers who know her imaginary friends is a treat. Her biggest complaint with writing is that she has far more ideas for stories than time to write them. It is her gift and her curse!

Patty began her career writing traditional high fantasy novels in 1993, and shifted gears in 2006 to write urban fantasy. Moon Called was the first of her signature series about Mercy; the non-stop adventure left readers wanting more, and word of this exciting new urban fantasy series about a shape-shifting mechanic spread quickly. The series has continued to grow in popularity with the release of each book, including the spin-off Alpha and Omega series, which are set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson novels.

Amazon has recently optioned the rights to the Mercy Thompson series. An option is not a promise to make the project happen, so Patty is patiently waiting to hear if and when it will be green lit. Many fingers and toes may still be crossed at this time.
Patty resides in Eastern Washington near Tri-Cities, home of Mercy Thompson; yes, it’s a real place! When not working on the next book, she can be found playing truant out in her horse pastures, playing with the newest babies. For more information about Patricia Briggs, visit the author on the web at www.patriciabriggs.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OfficialPatriciaBriggs/

Mark Sheppard is an actor whose acting career is a real gold mine full of exceptional roles and performances. Sheppard quickly gained notoriety, appearing in many different productions. His career gained momentum with guest and recurring roles in series such as “The Practice”, “The Invisible Man”, “Special Unit 2”, “JAG”, “Star Trek: Voyager”, “The Chronicle”, “Las Vegas”, “Monk”, “CSI: New York”, or “Chuck”. Mark won the hearts of fans as James Sterling in “Leverage” or as Crowley, the King of Hell in “Supernatural.” He is also loved as the character of Romo Lampkin from “Battlestar Galactica”, a complicated and enigmatic lawyer or in the role of Badger, a cunning and ruthless criminal who conquered the hearts of viewers in the production of “Firefly”.

Participant of LEGO® Masters Poland, promoter of workshops using LEGO® bricks. A woman in the world of LEGO®, who runs the largest profile in Poland on this subject on the TikTok platform (more than 700 thousand followers) and YouTube (more than 300 thousand followers). Co-author of a book dedicated to LEGO® bricks.
Ciocia od Klocków – because that’s the nickname the community has come to know and love her under – proves in a fun and sometimes educational way that LEGO® is not just a toy for children. She has been conducting workshops with bricks for 11 years, and has been operating full time and on her own account since 2022.
She owns Zabawownia, a place where you can enjoy her impressive collection of LEGO® sets. Every day she inspires her followers by showing how fascinating life can be when accompanied by bricks!

Echo Rodu was born in the depths of mountain wilderness, where harmonious vibrations carry the sounds of organic melodies. It is a fusion of traditional Slavic folklore and tribal rhythms with modern influences—diverse electronic sounds inspired by the voices of wild forests. Accompanying this are atmospheric vocals and rare instruments from a long-gone era, such as the Slavic harp (gusli), hurdy-gurdy, and many others.

Drawing from genres like organic downtempo, neotribal, psytrance, and folktronica, the band’s music immerses listeners in ancient rituals and sweeps them into trance-like dances.

In 2023, the group released their debut album, Gorej. Currently, its members are working on a new record in collaboration with Paprodziad. Recently, they released the single Rodu Root, heralding the upcoming album.

Sandra Recka – better known on Instagram as retzka.photobricks, where she shows the results of combining her two greatest passions – LEGO® bricks and photography. A graduate of journalism, she has won many photo contests, including DEBUTS 2016 – a review for the best emerging photographers of the young generation.

She has been taking photos continuously for 20 years in a variety of fields – from sports, to weddings, to concerts, until 2023, when she completed a photo assignment for The LEGO® Group itself.

As part of her activity, she presents original scenes inspired by everyday life, which she invents and builds herself. While working on each photo, she takes care of the smallest details and tries to make each photo look like a frame ripped straight out of a movie!

He is a creative game designer and a veteran of the board games world who has played a key role in developing the gaming passion of his large family. Raised in Sweden, among 10 brothers and 6 sisters, Jacob was exposed to games from an early age, and they became a central part of his relatives’ lives.
For the moment, his work is focused on designing card games – in this field Jacob combines his imagination with years of experience to create titles that attract players from all over the world. In 2011, he and his siblings founded FryxGames, a family-owned board game publishing company. However, many of Jacob’s designs and ideas date back decades, to a time before the company was formally founded.

Thomas Fryxelius is a versatile game developer who, together with his twin brother Daniel, designed “Wilderness,” the first published game from FryxGames Publishing House. Since then, Thomas has actively supported the development of more projects, providing valuable feedback and ideas at every stage of the creative process.
In addition to designing games, Thomas also handles the FryxGames online store, bringing games to fans all around the world.

Life in plastic? It’s fantastic!

Can minifigures tell big stories? Tom Lasek or Tom Skog on Instagram proves that they can! He has been taking photos of LEGO minifigures for more than a decade, taking them to extraordinary settings and giving them life in frames full of emotion and humor. Tom’s photographs are not only playing with scale, perspective and light, but also stories that transport the viewer to distant worlds, although sometimes the minifigures themselves do not leave the apartment or even the kitchen table.

Osmotically soaking up influences from pop culture, literature and science in the broadest sense, Tomek creates a kind of amalgam in the recesses of his brain, which then ferments into ideas, sometimes surprising to the author himself. The fruits of these ideas are usually facetious portrayals, although he sometimes smuggles in insights or reflections on the reality around us [or simulacrum, if you will].
As an active member of the Toy Photographers community, Tomek not only shares his passion on the blog, but also contributes to this international community. He serves as a “community manager” for this community, as well as a “community ambassador” for LEGO, as part of the LEGO Ambassador Network program, which was created for adult fans of the Danish bricks – AFOLs*.
In 2019, his work briefly burst outside the fandom bubble when one of his photos – depicting a minifigure version of Olga Tokarczuk, created to celebrate her receiving the Nobel Prize – caught the attention of the mainstream media.

Tomek’s exhibition in the LEGO Fan Zone is a unique opportunity to see the world made of plastic bricks in a whole new light – full of detail, emotion and artistic vision. Visit the exhibition and see for yourself how you can use your camera to change your perspective and rediscover the world!

Mateusz Zawadzki, known in the world of LEGO® creators as Mattheo33, is a brick photography enthusiast who devotes himself to his greatest passion – building LEGO® sets and creating unique photos – after hours of working in e-commerce. Although he is an amateur photographer, he is constantly evolving, learning from his mistakes and experimenting with new techniques. He is also the originator and founder of #AFOLSQUAD, a group of LEGO Photography enthusiasts.

His fascination with bricks began as a child, but he rekindled his love for them in 2018 when his wife showed him how to take interesting shots with his camera. He has since combined the two passions, and his collection already includes more than 500 minifigures, the oldest of which date back to the 1990s.

His first exhibition of his work was held at a local library, and he made his debut on the LEGO® fan scene during KLOCKON in Będzin in 2018, where he first presented his photos to the general public. Since then, he has been constantly developing his skills and taking on more and more ambitious projects.

During Pyrkon 2025, you will be able to see his work at the LEGO Photographers’ Corner, where he will present his photographs alongside other artists. His motto – “Lego is passion – photo is attraction” – perfectly captures an approach to creativity that not only unites two passions, but also inspires others to discover the magic of the brick world.

Kaliane Bradley is a British writer and editor who has taken the literary world by storm. However, before her name began to appear on bestseller lists, she had gained recognition as a short story writer, as evidenced by her awards: Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Prize and V.S.. Pritchett Short Story Prize (both in 2022). Her novel debut, The Ministry of Time, published in 2024, delighted readers and critics, earning her the title of one of the year’s greatest literary discoveries.

Photo author: Robin Christian

inba☆style is a collective of DJs fascinated by the Japanese club scene and underground electronic music sounds. Their sets are an explosive mix of j-core, hardcore techno, hardstyle and hard dance that transports listeners straight to the neon heart of Akihabara. Behind the decks you will be able to see Kyuko, Pixa Galaxy and DJ Chrapnel, serving up energetic remixes of songs from anime, Vocaloids and j-pop.

After leaving art college, Peter worked in forests and garden centres before setting up a business sculpting models for RPG and tabletop wargames. For fifteen years he sculpted fantasy and sci-fi models before pursuing his main passion of writing. As a self-published author, Peter’s first novel became an Amazon bestseller and was adapted into a film called Dark Sense. In 2017 he published the epic fantasy novel Battle Mage, a book that has been translated into seven languages and is now loved by readers all over the world. Following the success of Battle Mage, Peter began work on a new fantasy series called Decimus Fate before returning to the world of Battle Mage to write a prequel called AQUILA, which will soon be translated into Polish.

Kevin J. Anderson is the author of nearly 100 books, including novels set in universes beloved by readers such as Diuna, Star Wars, X-Files, Star Trek, StarCraft and Superman. He continues to expand his literary output, providing fans with further fascinating stories.

Studio Accantus is a team of creators and artists whose mission is to spread the love for musical theatre and film music in Poland, and to do this exclusively in Polish. In the twelve years that they have been active, they have already produced several hundred songs, which you can find on their public YouTube channel. Among other things, they became famous for their Polish versions of musicals such as “Hamilton,” “SIX” and “The Greatest Showman”.

Performing for you will be: Małgorzata Chruściel, Dominik Fijałkowski, Aleksandra Gotowicka, Kuba Jurzyk, Aleksandra Lewicka, Patrycja Mizerska, Sylwia Przetak, Paulina Stekla and the Accantus Live Band with Kasia Kessling

Darick W. Robertson is a respected American comic book artist with an impressive body of work. Over the years, he has attracted many devoted fans thanks to his distinctive style and love of detail. He was born in 1967 and has been fascinated by comic books since his youth. He began his professional career as a teenager, working on various projects for smaller publishing houses, and has continually developed as an artist.

Robertson’s work is very versatile, as it ranges from dark, anti-utopian worlds to classic superhero universes. He has experience working on original series, as well as on external projects – both Marvel characters such as Wolverine and New Warriors, and DC Comics characters, including the Batman and Justice League series. He is also the co-creator of incredibly popular series such as The Boys, Transmetropolitan and Happy!.

Sara Pichelli began her artistic path in animation, but it was drawing comics that proved to be her greatest passion. She started in the industry at Cut-Up publishing house, co-creating her first comic book Sesso col coltello. She then worked with IDW Comics, illustrating the Star Trekseries, among others.
Her greatest fame came from her work on the Ultimate Comics:. Spider-Man series with Miles Morales, but her portfolio also includes such titles as Runaways, Iron Man, Avengers, Captain America, Scarlet Witch and many others.
During Pyrkon, attendees will have a chance to get an autograph, a special drawing in their favorite comic book, as well as talk to Sara and ask her some nagging questions. This is a unique opportunity for any comic books fan – whether you are a long-time fan of the genre or just discovering your love for illustration.

Radek began his YouTube journey in 2012, initially focusing on Rubik’s Cube-related videos. Even today, speedcubing remains a key theme in his content and an important part of his life—in August 2023, he even participated in the world rubik’s cube solving championship. Radek has also worked with Ekipa Friza as a cameraman. In recent years, LEGO content has increasingly appeared on his channel, and he once served as an ambassador for the Bricks & Figs museum in Krakow.

LEt’s GO Build was established in 2015 as one of the first nationwide, publicly accessible spaces for enthusiasts of building with Lego bricks.
What started as a small group suddenly began attracting more people eager to contribute to the forum. Initially, members could be counted in the hundreds, and later, in the thousands. For a long time, Let’s Go Build remained the largest and most active Polish forum dedicated to Lego bricks.
Today, LEt’s GO Build expands beyond the online world, appearing at events such as Klockon in Będzin and klockoMANIA in Wrocław, distributing souvenirs during the opening of LEGO Stores, and supporting the Lego Fan Zone at Pyrkon in Poznań.
Over the years, the Let’s Go Build forum has helped forge new friendships and laid the foundation for many builders’ projects. While much has changed during this time, as the team celebrates the forum’s tenth anniversary, they promise to continue adding their own “brick” to building the community of Lego fans in Poland.

WANDAL is a Polish-Norwegian band playing heavy/dark/acoustic/folk metal.

The first plans to create the band began to take shape seven years ago when Marcin Dzięcioł, its founder, became a collector of ancient instruments. Joining forces with his brother Adrian, the creator of the band LIVERUM, Marcin set out in search of a unique sound. Drawing from their experience in metal music, the brothers added an acoustic touch to their compositions, shaping the current identity of the project—the band WANDAL.
The lyrics and atmosphere of their songs bring to life the spirits of the ancient and wild North, as well as Slavic heritage. As the band’s founder describes it:
“We grew up in Norway, where we moved as teenagers with our entire family. Our inspiration came from the monumental nature and the ancient European and Scandinavian culture and its legacy.”

The band’s debut album was released in the summer of 2024, showcasing WANDAL’s style and musical vision. Nearly every track on the album was accompanied by a music video, created in collaboration with the AceOfArt group.

Julie Kagawa was born and raised in Sacramento, California, where she spent the first nine years of her life. However, it was not in California that her love of literature was born. The biggest turning point in her life came after she moved to Hawaii. There she discovered two of her greatest passions – her love of the ocean and books. She began dealing with books professionally by working in various bookstores. It wasn’t a straight path to writing books full-time – she had some more adventures along the way.

Perły i Łotry is one of the most well-known Polish bands performing sea shanties. It was founded in 1992 in Katowice and has since had a significant influence on the local folk scene. Over the years, the group has undergone numerous lineup and name changes, releasing many albums, including Sail-Ho!, Kanał lewy, kanał prawy, and Missa. The band has achieved success not only in Poland but also abroad, performing in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA. They are the organizers of the Sea Song Festival Port Pieśni Pracy, which combines music with charity work. Perły i Łotry actively develop their creativity, engaging in new projects and collaborating with artists from various genres, as exemplified by their remix of My Mother Told Me with French DJ LB One.

Cronica was formed in 2014 in Jaworzno, and its style can be described as a fusion of traditional melodies with heavy, metal-driven sound, accompanied by a wide range of vocal techniques—from classical and operatic singing to growling and screaming.

The band’s songs are deeply rooted in Slavic mythology but also draw inspiration from Greek, Norse, and Jewish legends. Beyond myths and ancient beliefs, Cronica explores philosophy, the human condition, and contemporary issues, giving some of their songs a more reflective character.

Their discography includes three releases: the debut album Świt Historii (2015), Na Tej Ziemi (2016), and their latest record, Ukony (2022), which presents a heavier, more heavy-metal-oriented side of the band.

Cronica is also known for its energetic live performances and passion for touring. The band regularly plays across Poland and beyond, sharing the stage with some of Europe’s top folk-metal acts. They have appeared at major festivals such as Pol’and’Rock Festival and Słowiańska Noc Folk Metalowa.

Viking C, or Patryk S. Covers, is a Polish performer of anime covers, mostly known on YouTube, where his interpretations have garnered hundreds of thousands of listens. A former singer of rock and metal bands, he is a self-taught musician who has been passionate about music and anime since childhood. His adventure began with “Dragon Ball” and continues to this day – it is the songs from this series, along with “Attack on Titan”, that have become the basis for his most popular covers.

Debuting in 2017, the charismatic duo has performed on the stages of festivals such as Glastonbury Festival, Pol’and’Rock, and Germany’s Fusion Festival, while playing nearly 200 concerts from Slovakia to Japan. They have released three albums under the Karrot Kommando label: Stypa komedianta (2019), Się (2021), and Rave macabre (2024).

Kirszenbaum is a collaborative project of Kacper Szpyrka (a bookseller and violinist) and Jakub Wiśniewski (a guitarist and lyricist), who are also active in the literary field. Szpyrka’s translations have been published in Literatura na Świecie and by the Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy (How to Make a Novel by Miguel de Unamuno, 2021), while Wiśniewski has authored two novels: Myja (Biuro Literackie, 2022) and Robak (Filtry, 2022), the latter of which earned him the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature Award.