Migration and the related cultural phenomena have always exerted an impact on literature, but it was not until the 20th, and especially the 21st century that they became one of the key factors influencing cultural developments in many Western countries. Migration is a major issue also in 20th-century Polish literature, in which many of the writers living in exile played a leading part - just like their 19th-century predecessors. In its wider sense, migration literature, not limited to purely political contexts, frequently embarks on an attempt to analyse the key issues and problems for human existence and the building up of an individual’s identity. It describes the moment of his departure for a new country as the end of his former life and the circumstance forcing him to start a new life in a foreign culture. In my paper I address the following books as examples of the phenomenon: Richard Flanagan’s The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Paul Auster’s 4321, and Wioletta Grzegorzewska’s Czasy zespolone.