Awarded Officer of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2025).
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Ryszard Kapuściński
Ryszard Kapuściński was a Polish journalist, photographer and author. He received many prestigious awards and was considered a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Kapuściński's personal journals in book form attracted both controversy and admiration for blurring the conventions of reportage with the allegory and magical realism of literature. He was the Communist-era Polish Press Agency's…
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culture · Polish journalist, photographer and author (1932–2007) · writer · journalist · translator · photographer · poet · reporter · opinion journalist · also Ryszard Kapuściński, Kapuściński
Born 4 March 1932 · Died 23 January 2007 · Q216813
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2025· 1 entry
2013· 2 entries
The Guardian: Observer writer wins Ryszard Kapuściński award 2013
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The publisher of Domosławski's book apologized to Alicja Kapuścińska and her daughter
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2012· 7 entries
The Guardian: Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life by Artur Domoslawski – review
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The Guardian: Ryszard Kapuściński: A Life by Artur Domosławski – review
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The then permanent secretary of the Nobel-awarding Swedish Academy, Peter Englund, said: "In any case, the "literary" in "literary reportage" doesn't absolve you of your duty to the facts
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In both Polish and English in the book Collected Poems, translated by Diana Kuprel and Marek Kusiba
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To Italian (Ryszard Kapuściński
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By Antonia Lloyd-Jones and first published by Verso Books as Ryszard Kapuściński
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In the book Pisanie (Writing) but broadcast in Canada on Kalejdoskop Polski TV as early as 1988
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2010· 4 entries
The Guardian: Ryszard Kapuściński was a great story-teller, not a liar | Neal Ascherson
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The Guardian: Poland's ace reporter Ryszard Kapuściński accused of fiction-writing
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Warsaw City Council established the Ryszard Kapuściński Award as a form of distinction and promotion of the most worthwhile reportage books which touch on important contemporary issues, evoke reflection, and deepen our k
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A Polish language monograph titled Kapuściński Non-Fiction written by Artur Domosławski was published in Warsaw
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2009· 1 entry
The Guardian: The Other by Ryszard Kapuscinski | Book review
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2008· 3 entries
The Guardian: Review: The Other by Ryszard Kapuscinski
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The Guardian: Review: Travels With Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski
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Under the title Ryszard Kapuściński
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2007· 7 entries
Died 2007-01-23.
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“Świat wyglądałby inaczej, gdyby powiedzieć każdemu: zbawiaj się na własną rękę, na miarę swoich chęci i możliwości!”
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“W polityce trzeba umieć czekać. Kto lepiej czeka, ten wygrywa.”
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“A dyktatura do ostatnich swoich chwil wyglądała jak monolit. Dyktatura nigdy nie upada stopniowo i po trochu, tylko zawsze momentalnie i całkowicie. Do końca wydaje się silna i dlatego nie można przewidzieć tego dnia, w którym przestanie istnieć.”
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“W krajach, w których panuje wolność słowa, wolność dziennikarza ograniczają interesy dziennika, dla którego pracuje. W wielu przypadkach dziennikarz, zwłaszcza młody, musi iść na daleko idące kompromisy i uciekać się do wyrafinowanej strategii, żeby uniknąć bezpośredniego starcia (…) Ogólnie rzecz biorąc, jest to zawód który wymaga ciągłej walki i czujności.”
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“Do tego, żeby uprawiać dziennikarstwo, przede wszystkim trzeba być dobrym człowiekiem. Źli ludzie nie mogą być dobrymi dziennikarzami. Jedynie dobry usiłuje zrozumieć innych, ich intencje, ich wiarę, ich zainteresowania, ich trudności, ich tragedie.”
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“Even though you can destroy a man, destroying him does not make him cease to exist. On the contrary, if I can put it this way, he begins to exist all the more. These are paradoxes no tyrant can deal with. The scythe swings, and at once the grass starts to grow back. Cut again and the grass grows faster than ever. A very comforting law of nature.”
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2006· 1 entry
Awarded Śląski Wawrzyn Literacki (2006).
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2005· 2 entries
For his Travels with Herodotus (the new category of the Premio Elsa Morante, called "Cultures of Europe", in effect a separate prize awarded by the same jury, having apparently been created specially for him)
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The Italian edition of Kapuściński's poems (which appeared in print the previous year as Taccuino d'appunti in the translation of Silvano De Fanti) won the state-funded Naples Prize (Premio Napoli)
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2004· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow (2004).
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2003· 2 entries
Awarded Princess of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanities (2003).
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Kapuściński received the Premio Grinzane Cavour per la Lettura in Turin; shared the Prince of Asturias Award (in the category "Communications and Humanities") with the Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez; and was award
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2002· 1 entry
To the then editor-in-chief of the monthly Letras Libres, Ricardo Cayuela Gally, Kapuściński opined that the war on terror, owing to the asymmetrical character of the combatants engaged in it, could only be won—and indee
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2001· 2 entries
Awarded Prix Tropiques for The Shadow of the Sun (2001).
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Kapuściński received the literary Prix Tropiques of the French Development Agency for his book The Shadow of the Sun, published in France under the title Ébène: Aventures africaines, which had a year earlier been named t
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2000· 3 entries
Awarded Lire magazine's Best book of the year for The Shadow of the Sun (2000).
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Awarded Viareggio-Versilia International Prize (2000).
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In the book in Italian Il cinico non è adatto a questo mestiere: conversazioni sul buon giornalismo (A Cynic wouldn't Suit This Profession: Conversations about Good Journalism), the book in Spanish from 2003 (distributed
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1999· 2 entries
Awarded Samuel-Bogumil-Linde prize (1999).
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Kapuściński talked about his life in VPRO in a series of autobiographical interviews with prominent people from the worlds of science, culture and politics
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1994· 2 entries
Awarded Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding (1994).
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(although the scope of the prize is limited to TV journalism, special categories of prizes for which he would not otherwise qualify—as also for example in the case of the Elsa Morante Prize—have been created for Kapuściń
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1988· 1 entry
Two episodes of Arena were dedicated to him and his work
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1987· 2 entries
Marek Miller talked with Kapuściński on the art of reportage and his life
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The book was adapted by Michael Hastings and Jonathan Miller into a theatre play, produced by the Royal Court Theatre, London
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1983· 1 entry
It received an immediate critical success
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1980· 1 entry
Witnessed the strikes that took place in Gdańsk, Poland
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1979· 2 entries
Went to Iran to witness the Iranian Revolution
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Visited his birthplace Pinsk for the first time since 1940
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1972· 1 entry
And later worked for magazines Kontynenty and Kultura
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1970· 1 entry
Entitled Dlaczego zginął Karl von Spreti (Why Karl von Spreti Died)
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1969· 2 entries
Edited and translated from the Spanish El diario del Che en Bolivia, the final literary bequest of Che Guevara
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Witnessed war in Honduras which he described in the book The Soccer War
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1965· 1 entry
But returned to Africa to live in Lagos and continue reporting
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1962· 1 entry
A collection of his articles from the "Polish wilderness" that he went into to relate "the perspectives of forgotten, invisible, marginal people and so to record a living history of those seldom deemed worthy to enter th
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1961· 1 entry
Reported from the Republic of the Congo
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1958· 1 entry
Left Sztandar Młodych and started working for the Polish Press Agency
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1951· 1 entry
Moved to the department of history after he suspended working for Sztandar Młodych till 1955
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1948· 1 entry
Kapuściński joined the official Communist youth organisation—the ZMP—and served lower rank posts
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1945· 1 entry
The family settled in Warsaw where Ryszard began education in Stanisław Staszic Gymnasium
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1940· 1 entry
Maria, afraid of deportation to the East, together with Ryszard and Barbara left Pinsk and moved to Sieraków, near Warsaw
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1932· 2 entries
Born 1932-03-04.
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The son of Maria Bobka and Józef Kapuściński, primary school teachers
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