Note from my journal, Jan. 25th, 2007

World renowned Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski dies.

Contact:

Anna Szyniszewska

aniasz@ufl.edu

University of Florida

Department of Geography

Turlington Hall

PO Box 117315

Gainesville FL

32601 USA

Phone: (352) 392-0494 ext.229

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Favorite quotes:

 

"Life is an adventure - dare it"

 

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."

 

I come from Poland. Click on the map to read about my country.

In the sad circumstances of the dead of the greatest Polish journalist reporting over 40 years on the situation in Africa, Middle East, USSR and Latin America, I would like to recommend to everyone his books. He was gifted with a great sense of observation and unusual sense of interpreting the perceived world. His books were translated into 30 languages and were published in 120 countries. He was several times the most serious candidate to receive the Noble prize.

Asked about the situation in Africa he used to answer: in which Africa?
Asked how he survived 27 coups he witnessed he answered: I wouldn't stick out, I blended in, I tried to be a man you wouldn't like your bullet to be wasted on. During his travels he was sentenced to death 4 times.

In one of his books he mentions about the tiny funding from the Polish Press Agency that he was receiving. With such a small budget he could only afford staying in the local suburban areas. However, he greatly appreciated this fact, as he could be more exposed to the local communities life.

At the same time having a chance to meet Kapuscinski, I was impressed with the fact, that my favorite writer, a great Pole, is a humble and calm person.

Before the last visit in the hospital he said to his friends: I have two more books to write, I have so much material to read…

 

Some more facts from his biography you can find on-line on BBC and Guardian webpages:

 

http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1997953,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6293005.stm

My first recommendation is a book with reportages from various countries in Africa: "The shadow of the sun" (original title in Polish is "Heban" which means 'ebony')

His books enhance our lives, therefore I do hope one day you will get one from the library and see the world with eyes of human, great thinker, who devoted his entire life to seek an understanding of the world political and cultural problems.

 

More about Kapuscinski on Wikipedia