Stefania Kossowska, née Szurlej (23 September 1909,

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

– 15 September 2003, London) was a Polish literary editor, political activist, writer and broadcaster.

Early life

Her father was a noted lawyer, Stanisław Szurlej, and her mother, Jadwiga Ciepielowska, was of Polish Jewish descent. The family moved from her native

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, (now Lviv in Ukraine) to Warsaw in 1920. There, she attended secondary school and began studies for a law degree at the University of Warsaw. She began her writing career while a student contributing to a women's review, ''"Bluszcz”''. Later her journalism encompassed titles such as, the Warsaw evening paper, ''Wieczór Warszawski'', ''ABC'' and ''Prosto z mostu''.

Career

Before the war she made a brief excursion to Italy, as a press correspondent and there in Sicily, she met Polish artist,

Adam Kossowski Adam Kossowski (5 December 1905 – 31 March 1986) was a Polish artist, born in Nowy Sącz, notable for his works for the Catholic Church in England, where he arrived in 1943 as a refugee from Soviet labour camps and was invited in 1944 to join ...

. They married in the autumn of 1938. Following the 1939 invasion of Poland, she slipped out of the country, with her parents, through the so-called "green border" into Romania and on to France, to await her husband who was detained in Poland. With France soon occupied by German forces, she moved to the United Kingdom, as an official of the Polish government-in-exile. From 1940 onwards she became a contributor to London and Paris-based publications, among them, '' Wiadomości Polskie, Polityczne i Literackie'', ''”Biuletyn Światpolu”'', '' The Polish Daily'', ''"Polska Walcząca”'', writing regular commentary and sketches. She also worked for the Polish section, BBC Radio. She was separated from her husband by the war and did not see him for four years. He had fled eastwards in Poland, was arrested by Soviet troops and survived the gulag. He did not reach the West until 1943, with Anders' Army, and was subsequently reunited with his wife in London. Between 1953 and 1981 Kossowska was increasingly involved with the editing of the weekly, ''Wiadomości'', and contributing the "News from London" column, under the pseudonym, ''Big Ben''. In 1973 she became the paper's editor-in-chief. Between 1954 and 1993 she contributed to Radio Free Europe. She was a signatory of the petition of protest against constitutional changes in Poland, known as the '' Letter of 59''. From 1956 to 1992 she was a member of the Union of Polish Writers Abroad (Związek Pisarzy Polskich na Obczyźnie). In the 1980s she was a cultural adviser to the Polish Cultural Foundation (1950),

Polska Fundacja Kulturalna Polska Fundacja Kulturalna (PFK), is an expatriate Polish publishing house, founded in London in 1950 to help maintain Polish culture among Poles who had been resettled in the UK after WWII. It is based at the Polish Social and Cultural Centre ...

in London. In 1994 she donated the ''Wiadomści'' archives to the Library of the University of Torun. She was the custodian of her late husband's artistic legacy and editor and author of several books.

Personal life

She was widowed in 1986. Her own death followed in 2003. She was buried next to her husband, Adam, in the grounds of Aylesford Priory, Kent.

Awards

* Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1980) * Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Prize (1980) * Zygmunt Hertz Literary Prize under the auspices of Paris-based

Kultura ''Kultura'' (, ''Culture'')—sometimes referred to as ''Kultura Paryska'' ("Paris-based Culture")—was a leading Polish-émigré literary-political magazine, published from 1947 to 2000 by ''Instytut Literacki'' (the Literary Institute), ini ...

(1992) *

Commander's Cross with Star 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 ...

( November 1994)

Selected writings

* ''Mieszkam w Londynie'' - (I live in London) (1964) * ''„Wiadomości” na emigracji'' - (News from Exile) (1968) * ''Jak cię widzę tak cię piszę'' - ( As I see you, so I write you) (1973) * ''Adam Kossowski: Murals and Paintings'' with contributions by

Benedict Read Benedict William Read, BA, FSA (26 March 1945 – 20 October 2016) was an English art historian. Usually known as Ben Read, he was the author of numerous books, essays and articles on nineteenth and twentieth century art history, and was one ...

, Tadeusz Chrzanowski, Martin Sankey, Adam Kossowski, Tymon Terlecki, and Andrew Borkowski. London: Armelle Press, 1990. editor, * ''Galeria przodków. Sylwetki emigracyjne'' - (Gallery of Ancestors, Sketches of Exiles) (1991) * ''Od Herberta do Herberta. O nagrodzie „Wiadomości” 1958-1990'' - (From Herbert to Herbert. About the „Wiadomości” Prize 1958-1990) (1993) * "Interview with Dr.

Andrzej Ciechanowiecki Andrew Stanislaus (Andrzej Stanisław) Ciechanowiecki (28 September 1924 – 2 November 2015), Dąbrowa Coat of Arms, was a Polish-British nobleman, diplomat, prisoner and agent of Communist Poland, economist, academic, art historian, philanthro ...

" in ''

'' (1993) * ''Przyjaciele i znajomi'' - (Friends and Acquaintances) (1998). * ''Definicja szczęścia. Listy do Anny Frajlich 1972-2003'' - (A definition of Happiness: Letters to Anna Frajlich)

References

External links

*https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352009671_Kontrowersyjna_i_niezalezna_postac_kultury_polskiej_na_emigracji_-_dziennikarka_pisarka_redaktor_Stefania_Kossowska {{DEFAULTSORT:Kossowska, Stefania 1909 births 2003 deaths Journalists from Warsaw People from Lviv People from Warsaw 20th-century Polish writers 20th-century Polish women writers 20th-century essayists 20th-century memoirists Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Polish expatriates in the United Kingdom Polish anti-communists Polish columnists Polish essayists Polish political writers Polish people of World War II Polish women essayists Polish people of Jewish descent Polish women writers Polish memoirists Polish opinion journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World Service people Polish radio journalists People associated with Kultura (magazine) Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Burials in Kent