Mariusz Adam Szczygieł (Polish pronunciation: ; born 5 September 1966

Złotoryja Złotoryja (; german: Goldberg, ; Latin: ''Aureus Mons'', ''Aurum'') is a historic town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in southwestern Poland, the administrative seat of Złotoryja County, and of the smaller Gmina Złotoryja. Having been granted ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

journalist and writer. He is the winner of the 2009 European Book Prize for ''Gottland'' and the 2019

Nike Award The Nike Literary Award ( pl, Nagroda Literacka „Nike") is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award fo ...

, the most important prize in

Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...

, for his reportage ''Nie ma''.

Life and career

He graduated in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

in 2000. At 16, he began writing for the weekly-paper ''Na przełaj''. In spite of communist-era censorship, he published a shocking collection of reportages titled ''The Shrift'', which were about

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

and lesbian youth in Poland. As a TV presenter of the popular program ''Na każdy temat'' (On Every Topic), Szczygieł was the first person in Poland to publicly speak the word "orgasm" on screen. In 2002, he stopped working for TV

Polsat Polsat is a Polish free-to-air television channel that was launched on 5 December 1992 by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak. , it is the most watched television channel in Poland with a market share of 11.30% Polsat belongs to Grupa Polsat Plus ( WSECPS, wh ...

and concentrated on writing for ''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...

''. Presently, he is the first assistant manager of the weekly supplement Duży Format and assistant manager of its reportage-section. His work is cited in every anthology of contemporary Polish journalism. Most notable are his studies of the

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

, and especially

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

, culture and life-style. His popular book ''Gottland'' (2006), is, according to

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, ''Gazeta Wyborcza''. Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponen ...

, the first cubistic reportage of the world. It received the European Book Prize as well as Polish Booksellers Prize as an extremely popular book on everything Czech. His works have been translated into numerous languages including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Estonian,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, Hungarian,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Slovak,

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Personal life

Szczygieł is an outspoken atheist. In 2022 in the book ''Fakty muszą zatańczyć'' (''The Facts Must Dance'') he

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a

gay man ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Awards and honours

*1993: Polish Journalists' Association Award *1996: Kryształowe Zwierciadło Award *1997:

TV Award (Best Talk Show category) *2000: Award of the Polish Primate *2004: Melchior Award *2007: Beata Pawlak Award *2007: Nike Audience Award for ''Gottland'' *2007:

Angelus Award The Angelus Central European Literature Award also known as Angelus Award (Polish: ''Nagroda Literacka Europy Środkowej Angelus'') is a Polish international literary award established in 2006 and presented by the city of Wrocław, Lower Silesia. ...

finalist *2009: Prix Amphi in Lille *2009: European Book Prize for ''Gottland'' *2013: Journalist of the Year Award *2014: Knight's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

*2014: Bene Merito Honorary Badge *2019:

for ''Nie ma''

Works

*''Niedziela, która zdarzyła się w środę'' (Sunday that Happened on Wednesday), Warsaw 1996; *''Na każdy temat – talk show do czytania'', with Witold Orzechowski, (On Every Topic), Warsaw 1997; *''Gottland'',

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

2008; *''20 lat nowej Polski w reportażach według Mariusza Szczygła'' (20 Years of New Poland in Reportage Writing), Wołowiec 2009; *''Kaprysik. Damskie historie'', Warszawa 2010; *''Zrób sobie raj'' (Make Your Own Paradise), Wołowiec 2010; *''Láska nebeská'', Warsaw 2012; *''Projekt: prawda'' (Project: Truth), Warsaw 2016; *''Nie ma'', Warsaw 2018 *''Osobisty przewodnik po Pradze'' (A Personal Guidebook Through Praga), Warsaw 2020. In anthologies *''Kraj Raj'' (The Land Paradise), Warsaw 1993; *''Wysokie Obcasy. Twarze'' (High Heels. Faces), Warsaw 2003; *''Ouvertyr till livet'', Stockholm 2003; *''La vie est un reportage. Anthologie du reportage litteraire polonais'',

Montricher Montricher is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Morges. History Montricher is first mentioned in 1049 as ''Mons Richarius''. In 1301 it was mentioned as ''Montricher''. Geography Montricher has an ...

2005; *''Von Minsk nach Manhattan. Polnische reportagen'',

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

2006.

References

External links