1. RYSZARD KAPUŚCIŃSKI Polish journalist and photographer.

2. Ryszard Kapuściński (1932-2007) was a Polish journalist whose dispatches in book form brought him a global reputation. Also a photographer and poet, he was born in Pińsk – now in Belarus – in the Kresy Wschodnie, or eastern borderlands of the second Polish Republic. Much of Kapuściński's work is considered to ascend to the heights of literature.

3. Third World reportage and other work During the years from 1954 to 1981 Kapuściński was a member of Polish United Workers' Party. In 1964, after honing his skills on domestic stories, he "was appointed by the Polish Press Agency (PAP) as its only foreign correspondent, and for the next ten years he was 'responsible' for fifty countries." Since 1965 he traveled around the developing world and reported on wars, coups and revolutions in Asia, Europe and the Americas; including the Football War a "bloody, scarcely believable conflict that Honduras and El Salvador waged in 1969 over a pair of soccer games." When he finally returned to Poland, he had lived through twenty-seven revolutions and coups, been jailed 40 times and survived four death sentences. In the English speaking world, Kapuściński is best known for his reporting from Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, when he witnessed first-hand the end of the European colonial empires on that continent. Italian journalist Tiziano Terzani and Ryszard Kapuściński shared the same vision of journalism.

4. Kapuściński’s Journeys Africa 1958 - Ghana, Dahomej, Niger 1960 - Egypt, Sudan, Kongo, Tansania, Kenia, Uganda, Somalia,Etiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Gwinea, Mauretania 1962 - Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Etiopia, Sudan, Sambia, Malawii, South Rodesa 1964 - Camerun, Niger, Nigeria, Dahomej, Togo, Ghana, Upper Wolta (Burkina Faso), Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Mauretania, Algieria, Libia 1975 - Angola 1976 - Ogaden 1992 – Republic of South Africa 1995 - Etiopia, Erytrea 1997 - Senegal, Nigeria, Lagos, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali

5. Asia 1956 - Pakistan, Afganistan 1957 - Japan, Hong Kong, China 1958 - China, Soviet Union 1966 – Soviet Union 1972-80 - Iran, Syria, Jordan, Liban, Kuweit, Iraq, Jemen, Saudi Arab 1987 – Soviet Union 1989 – Soviet Union 1999 - Indi, Nepal

6. Selected bibliography BUSZ PO POLSKU. HISTORIE PRZYGODNE / THE BUSH, POLISH STYLE, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1962. CZARNE GWIAZDY / BLACK STARS, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1963. KIRGHIZ SCHODZI Z KONIA / THE KIRGHIZ DISMOUNTS, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1968. GDYBY CALA AFRYKA... / IF ALL AFRICA..., Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1968. DLACZEGO ZGINAL KARL VON SPRETI / WHY KARL VON SPRETI DIED, Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza, 1970. CHRYSTUS Z KARABINEM NA RAMIENIU / CHRIST WITH A RIFLE ON HIS SHOULDER, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1975. JESZCZE DZIEN ZYCIA / ONE MORE DAY OF LIFE, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1976. CESARZ / THE EMPEROR, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1978. WOJNA FUTBOLOWA / THE SOCCER WAR, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1978. SZACHINSZACH / SHAH OF SHAHS, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1982. ZAPROSZENIE DO GRUZJI / AN INVITATION TO GEORGIA (Published together with W. Kubicki's SLODKIE MORZE BAJKAL) Warsaw: MAW, 1983. NOTES / THE NOTEBOOK (poems), Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1986. LAPIDARIUM, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1990. IMPERIUM, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1993. LAPIDARIUM II, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1995. LAPIDARIUM III, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1997. HEBAN / EBONY, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1999. LAPIDARIUM IV, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 2000. Z AFRYKI / OUT OF AFRICA, Bielsko-Biala: Buffi, 2000

7. LAPIDARIUM V, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 2002 AUTOPORTRET REPORTERA / A REPORTER'S SELF-PORTRAIT, Krakow: SIW "Znak", 2003 PODROZE Z HERODOTEM / TRAVELS WITH HERODOTUS Krakow: SIW "Znak", 2004 TEN INNY / THAT OTHER (collection of lectures), Krakow: Znak, 2006. PRAWA NATURY (poetry), Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2006 Selected translations: English: THE EMPEROR: THE DOWNFALL OF AN AUTOCRAT (CESARZ), San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983. SHAH OF SHAHS (SZACHINSZACH), San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985. ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE (JESZCZE JEDEN DZIEN ZYCIA), New York: Penguin, 1988. THE SOCCER WAR (WOJNA FUTBOLOWA), New York: Knopf, 1991. IMPERIUM, New York: Knopf, 1994. French: IMPERIUM, Paris: Plon, 1994. German: DER FUSSBALLKRIEG: BERICHTE AUS DER DRITTEN WELT (WOJNA FUTBOLOWA), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1990. IMPERIUM. SOWJETISCHE STREIFZÜGE, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1993. KÖNIG DER KÖNIGE. EINE PARABEL DER MACHT (CESARZ), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1986. LAPIDARIUM, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1992. SCHAH-IN-SCHAH (SZACHINSZACH), Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1986. WIEDER EIN TAG LEBEN. INNENANSICHTEN EINES BÜRGERKRIEGS (JESZCZE JEDEN DZIEN ZYCIA), Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn. SCHAH-IN- SCHAH. EINE REPORTAGE ÜBER DIE MECHANISMEN DER MACHT, DER REVOLUTION UND DES FUNDAMENTALISMUS, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1997. Finnish: IMPERIUMI, Helsinki: Like, 1993. Spanish: EL SHA O LA DESMESURA DEL PODER, Barcelona: Anagrama, 1987. EL EMPERADOR (CESARZ), Barcelona: Anagrama, 1989. LA GUERRA DEL FÚTBOL (WOJNA FUTBOLOWA), Barcelona: Anagrama, 1992. Catalan: EL HOMES DE L'EMPERADOR (CESARZ), Barcelona: Escena, 1990.

8. Translations English: THE EMPEROR: THE DOWNFALL OF AN AUTOCRAT (CESARZ), San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983. SHAH OF SHAHS (SZACHINSZACH), San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985. ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE (JESZCZE JEDEN DZIEN ZYCIA), New York: Penguin, 1988. THE SOCCER WAR (WOJNA FUTBOLOWA), New York: Knopf, 1991. IMPERIUM, New York: Knopf, 1994. French: IMPERIUM, Paris: Plon, 1994. German: DER FUSSBALLKRIEG: BERICHTE AUS DER DRITTEN WELT (WOJNA FUTBOLOWA), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1990. IMPERIUM. SOWJETISCHE STREIFZÜGE, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1993. KÖNIG DER KÖNIGE. EINE PARABEL DER MACHT (CESARZ), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1986. LAPIDARIUM, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1992. SCHAH-IN-SCHAH (SZACHINSZACH), Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1986. WIEDER EIN TAG LEBEN. INNENANSICHTEN EINES BÜRGERKRIEGS (JESZCZE JEDEN DZIEN ZYCIA), Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn. SCHAH-IN-SCHAH. EINE REPORTAGE ÜBER DIE MECHANISMEN DER MACHT, DER REVOLUTION UND DES FUNDAMENTALISMUS, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1997. Finnish: IMPERIUMI, Helsinki: Like, 1993. Spanish: EL SHA O LA DESMESURA DEL PODER, Barcelona: Anagrama, 1987. EL EMPERADOR (CESARZ), Barcelona: Anagrama, 1989. LA GUERRA DEL FÚTBOL (WOJNA FUTBOLOWA), Barcelona: Anagrama, 1992. Catalan: EL HOMES DE L'EMPERADOR (CESARZ), Barcelona: Escena, 1990.

9. Out Of Africa The photo album OUT OF AFRICA is the famous writer and reporter's photographic debut. The photographs collected in this album are the fruits of his journeys into the depths of the African continent. Kapuściński has travelled to Africa numerous times since his first visit in 1957. He lived and worked there for many years as correspondent of the Polish Press Agency (PAP). However, he avoided official routes and much preferred to travel through the desert with the nomads who inhabited it, or visit the peasants of the tropical savannah. He observed their lives first hand, which were characterised by tribulation and struggle, but which they succeeded in lending a tremendous dignity and cheerfulness. Kapuściński's photographs testify to his fascination with the qualities that make Africa so different from his own world, his wish to comprehend these and to bring others closer to the extraordinary reality of the continent. The album OUT OF AFRICA is, like HEBAN, the author's personal portrait of Africa. Ryszard Kapuściński (b. 1932) is the most outstanding writer of all Polish reporters, and the best reporter of all Polish writers.

10. Photography

13. LAPIDARIUM V "The long-awaited fifth volume of Ryszard Kapuściński’s personal notations. The highly original form of these remarks has placed Kapuściński's work among the finest Polish literary achievements of recent decades. LAPIDARIUM I was first published by the "Czytelnik" publishing house in 1990. Since then, subsequent volumes of the series have been garnering an ever-growing group of readers and admirers, even though it seemed that the author's penetrating yet critical view of the world, his cautious but mostly pessimistic diagnoses would not allow the LAPIDARIUM series more than a narrow readership. Most of the notations in volume V focus on the problems of globalization, multi-cultural identity, and various aspects of contemporary development and culture, including the related ethical and moral questions. Kapuściński's voice, however, is not that of an enlightened European or self-confident American. It is noteworthy that he devotes only a fragment of the work to the attacks on America on September 11th. His voice is the voice of someone who has turned the provinces of the world into his intellectual center and looks from this vantage point at the great and minor issues of today’s world. Kapuściński is critical of the voices that view globalization as salvation or at least as a positive influence. The problem, he states, is the growing alienation between people: "in spite of advances in communication and communication technologies, our knowledge of each other - contrary to the common myth - remains highly superficial, most often non- existent. (...) We do not live in a global village, but rather in a global metropolis, a global train station inundated with a 'crowd of loners' (...) anxious people who would wish to know each other and develop close relationships."

15. A REPORTER'S SELF-PORTRAIT The book consists of statements by this master of reportage, statements devoted to topics like traveling, his creative method, and the functions of the public media. The writer himself accepted this portrait of himself that emerged from his own story: that of a man who is a voyager, artist, insightful commentator of the world that surrounds us. "When I wrote 'Empire,'" says Kapuściński, "I used maybe ten percent of the material I had gathered. And I remain full of these stories that I never wrote down..." "This is almost a personal book. Ryszard Kapuściński talks about himself, his passion for traveling, the singular nature of his profession, the need to put one's life at risk in the name of higher values. He speaks to the loneliness and fear that invariably accompany reporters, the labor of writing, and the shackles of fame. 'Autoportret reportera' / 'A Reporter's Self-Portrait' also contains simple, important words - about the media, the contemporary world, and us. 'A Reporter's Self-Portrait' is like the highest possible quality textbook on journalism." (Artur Mrozowski, SIW Znak)

17. Travels with Herodotus Just before Ryszard Kapuściński embarked on his first voyage abroad, he was given a gift - Herodotus' HISTORY. The journalist had this work by the famous Classical historian with him during his travels through India, China, Asia Minor and Africa. In his newest book, the famous reporter recalls many of the fascinating political and historical events he witnessed, juxtaposing them against the events Herodotus described. Kapuściński considers how ways of traveling, conveying information and describing events affect our understanding of the world. Though it may seem that nearly everything about the work of a reporter has changed since Herodotus' time, it is as true now as it was then that it is hard to understand the course of history - and this in spite of the wealth of information that we receive today from various parts of the globe. For those who nevertheless wish to try, Ryszard Kapuściński's book is a wonderful guide, above all because it provides no ready answers, teaching readers to ask wise questions instead. TRAVELS WITH HERODOTUS is scheduled to be translated into fifteen languages.

19. THE END Authors: M. Cisło, K. Dzideczek, P. Kujawiak.