Ryszard Kapuściński (1932-2007) - reporter, journalist, essayist. In 1962 he became the Polish Press Agency's correspondent in Africa, Latin America and Asia. He is fascinated by political conflict and war. He is the author of many collections of reportage, including: 'The Polish Bush' (1962) - reportage from his homeland; 'The Soccer War' (1978) - on changes taking place in Africa, where he travelled up to the end of the 1960s, to the Congo; 'The Emperor' (1978) - about the magnificence and the fall of Haile Sellassie in Ethopia; 'The Shah of Shahs' (1982) - about the court of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlava in Iran; 'Imperium' (1993) - after travelling around the crumbling Soviet empire in 1989-91; 'Heban' (1998) - a synthesis of works on Africa. His photographic album 'Out of Africa' came out in 2000. Winner of the 1996 Jan Parandowski Award for the best Polish writer. In 1999 he was awarded the Ikara statuette for his novel "Ebony" (Heban). He was honoured with many dotors honoris causa, e.g. from the University of Gdańsk, Jagiellonian University, Ramon Lull in Barcelona. He was also honoured with the Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis (2005). His work is translated all over the world, Kapuściński himself called his work "literary reportage". Ryszard Kapuściński died in Warsaw.
