Adam Dawid Szostkiewicz (; born 22 June 1952) is a Polish author, commentator on religion and politics, journalist and translator.

Biography

Szostkiewicz was born in

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

. He studied Polish language and literature in the early seventies at

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

. He was active in the Polish political opposition against the authoritarian rule, joined the

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

movement for human and workers’ rights as well as democracy and independence from the USSR. He was imprisoned after

Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

against Solidarity was imposed by a

Military Junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

in December 1981. After his release six months later, he remained part of the Solidarity underground. In 1988, he joined Tygodnik Powszechny, a liberal Catholic weekly in Kraków as Political Editor. He was spokesman for the 1990 presidential campaign of Polish Prime Minister

Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime minister since 1946, hav ...

. In the early nineties he was a producer in the

BBC Polish Section The BBC Polish Section () was one of the foreign-language services of the BBC World Service. It existed between 1939 and 2005. History A decision to establish the BBC Polish Section was made on 3 September 1939, after Great Britain declared war o ...

. John Simpson of the BBC invited him to be his guest in one of the episodes of ''Simpson's World'' documentary series when he came to Poland to talk about

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

and Polish Catholicism. After the death of the longtime editor of ''Tygodnik Powszechny'', Jerzy Turowicz in 1999, he joined the staff of Polityka weekly news magazine in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, where he writes about the Roman Catholic Church in Poland and worldwide and other religions in the wider contexts of culture and society, as well as on international relations and literature. He is often quoted and interviewed on modern religious issues. Occasionally his work appears in

openDemocracy.net openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage d ...

. His translations include ''

Eichmann in Jerusalem ''Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' is a 1963 book by the philosopher and political thinker Hannah Arendt. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, reported on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of ...

'' by

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

, co-translations of two volumes of

Ko Un Ko Un (; born 1 August 1933) is a South Korean poet whose works have been translated and published in more than fifteen countries. He had been imprisoned many times due to his role in the campaign for Korean democracy and was later mentioned in ...

's poems, and a co-translation of a book of poetry by

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate ...

. In 2014, President

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who was the fifth president of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski previously served as Ministry of National Defence (Poland), Minister of National Defence ...

awarded him the Officer's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

for outstanding achievements in the democratic transformation of Poland as well as for his contribution to the development of free media and independent journalism.Odznaczenia w Krakowie z okazji 25-lecia Wolności
He is married to radio journalist Marta Szostkiewicz, and they have two grown daughters.

References

External links

Adam Szostkiewicz's Polityka blog

Books by Adam Szostkiewicz

Articles in English by Adam Szostkiewicz on opendemocracy.net

Speaker bio from the Canadian Program ''Poland in the Rockies''

Bio from the Miłosz Festival 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szostkiewicz, Adam 1952 births Living people Polish male writers Polish translators Polish journalists Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Jagiellonian University alumni Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists People from Częstochowa