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. He studied Polish language and literature in the early seventies at Jagiellonian University. He was active in the Polish political opposition against the authoritarian rule, joined the Solidarity movement for human and workers’ rights as well as democracy and independence from the USSR. He was imprisoned after Martial law in Poland against Solidarity was imposed by a

Military Junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

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 Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime min ...

. In the early nineties he was a producer in the

BBC Polish Section The BBC Polish language, Polish Section ( pl, Sekcja polska BBC) 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 19 ...

. 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 ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

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 ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, 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. His translations include ''

Eichmann in Jerusalem ''Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' is a 1963 book by 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 the major organizers ...

'' by Hannah Arendt, co-translations of two volumes of Ko Un's poems, and a co-translation of a book of poetry by Gary Snyder. In 2014, President

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercis ...

awarded him the Officer'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 ...

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