Press
My press and media
This is the page for journalists who would rather check a fact than invent one. It has two biographies, the useful details, interview notes, links to my work and a press kit you can download.
Press kit
The PDF collects the facts, biographies, full assessment results, interview notes and contact information. I am a minor and have faced harassment, so photographs are not bundled into a public download. Verified outlets can request them for a specific use.
Download the press kit (PDF)Short biographyroughly fifty words
I am Stanisław ‘Staś’ Cichy, a fourteen-year-old poet, writer and editorial model in Szczecin, Poland. I was born without vocal folds, so I am voiceless and answer in writing, in sign or through a speech-generating tablet with a donated voice. My writing is published at A Boy In Letters.
Long biographyfor features and programme notes
I was born in Poland with bilateral vocal-fold agenesis, which means the tissue that vibrates to produce sound was never present. I have no speaking voice, cannot laugh aloud, sing or cough properly, and my hearing is entirely normal. I carry Polish, Japanese, Iranian and Iraqi heritage through my birth family.
I was removed from an unsafe home at five and separated from my twin sister, moved through three foster placements, and was later adopted. I now live in Szczecin as one of thirteen children, including the twin sister I was separated from as a small child, attend a private school, and write most evenings.
I publish poems and other writing at A Boy In Letters, work editorially as a model with guardian consent, and am considering studying law because too many decisions were made about me by adults who never asked me anything. I am autistic, and I live with hypopituitarism, a Non-24 sleep-wake rhythm, C-PTSD, anxiety and depression.
I am not a story about overcoming silence. I am a writer who happens to have been born without the body part that makes a voice.
Fact sheet
- Full name
- Stanisław Cichy, usually Staś
- Age
- Fourteen
- Based in
- Szczecin, Poland
- Work
- Poet, writer, editorial model
- Voice
- Born with bilateral vocal-fold agenesis, voiceless, hears normally
- Communication
- Writing, Polish sign language, speech-generating tablet with a donated voice
- Heritage
- Polish, Japanese, Iranian and Iraqi through my birth family
- Family
- Adopted, one of thirteen children, including my twin sister
- School
- A private school in Szczecin
- Health
- Autistic, with hypopituitarism, Non-24, C-PTSD, anxiety and depression
- Assessed scores
- WISC-V full scale IQ 142, EQ-i:YV total 118, full results at aboyinwords.com/scores
- Blog
- aboyinletters.com
- Site
- aboyinwords.com
- Management
- management@aboyinwords.com
Interview guidanceplease read before booking
- ·Talk to me, not to the adult beside me. I hear everything you say.
- ·Speak normally. I do not need written questions, although sending them in advance helps me prepare.
- ·Leave room for typing. My answers arrive in writing or through my tablet, so pauses are part of the format.
- ·Use ‘voiceless’ or ‘born without vocal folds’. I ask that ‘non-speaking’ and ‘nonverbal’ are not used about me.
- ·Do not ask me to demonstrate my condition or to describe abuse in detail on camera.
- ·Written interviews and email exchanges usually produce my best work.
- ·Every interview is arranged through management, with guardian consent and an adult present.
Photographs and portfolio
I do not display photographs publicly now. I am fourteen and have faced harassment, so my management sends a suitable selection only to verified journalists, editors, casting teams and clients. They check who is asking, what the pictures are for and where they will appear. Please do not forward or repost them.
Contact
Press requests, interviews, commissioned writing and bookings go through my management. English, Polish, Korean and Japanese are all welcome. A clear deadline in the subject line is much more useful than writing URGENT six times.
Open the contact form