Books about Kapuściński
Kapuściński has been the subject of a substantial body of writing: biographies, academic monographs, collections of criticism, volumes of conversation and special issues of literary journals. This page surveys what our records hold — 34 titles, of which a handful are available in English.
Available in English
Kinga Kosmala, Ryszard Kapuściński: Reportage and Ethics or Fading Tyranny of the Narrative (Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 2012). An academic study in English of the ethical questions raised by Kapuściński’s method — the fullest English-language treatment of the argument over the boundary between reportage and literature. Details
Artur Domosławski, Kapuściński Non-Fiction (Świat Książki, 2010; English edition Verso Books, 2012, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones). The biography that set off the fiercest dispute over Kapuściński’s legacy, written by a journalist who worked alongside him at Gazeta Wyborcza for years. The book documents where the reportage departs from verifiable fact, and provoked both a court action by the writer’s widow and a wave of commentary in the international press. Details
Maciej Sadowski, Ryszard Kapuściński: Fotobiografia / Photobiography (VEDA, Warsaw, 2013). A bilingual Polish–English photographic biography, drawing on Kapuściński’s own archive. Details
Ulrich Bock and others, Prawda / The Truth (WDP Bernardinum, Gdańsk–Pelplin, 2004). A bilingual volume from the Gdańsk Areopagus debates, in which Kapuściński took part. Details
The standard biography
Beata Nowacka and Zygmunt Ziątek, Ryszard Kapuściński. Biografia pisarza (Znak, 2008) is the authorised literary biography and remains the reference work in Polish. The same authors later published Literatura non-fiction. Czytanie Kapuścińskiego po Domosławskim (2013), a rereading of the work in the light of the Domosławski controversy.
Also biographical in character are Witold Bereś and Krzysztof Burnetko, Kapuściński: nie ogarniam świata (2007), a book-length interview; Marek Kusiba, Ryszard Kapuściński z daleka i z bliska (Znak, 2018), a memoir by a friend; Jarosław Mikołajewski, Sentymentalny portret Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (2008); and Krystyna Strączek, Kapuściński. Trudny talent (Czytelnik, 2022).
Academic studies
Polish scholarship on Kapuściński is extensive. Among the principal titles:
- Beata Nowacka, Magiczne dziennikarstwo. Ryszard Kapuściński w oczach krytyków (2004) — a survey of how the critics read him.
- Beata Nowacka, Glosy do “Szachinszacha” (2021) — a close commentary on Shah of Shahs.
- Magdalena Horodecka, Zbieranie głosów. Sztuka opowiadania Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (2010) — on his narrative art.
- Zbigniew Bauer, Antymedialny reportaż Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (2001).
- Aleksandra Kunce, Antropologia punktów (2008) — an anthropological reading.
- Urszula Glensk, Po Kapuścińskim. Szkice o reportażu (Universitas, 2012).
- Mariusz Dzięglewski, Reportaże Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego. Źródło poznania społeczeństw i kultur (2009) — a sociological approach.
- Krzysztof Koc, Czytanie świata. Reportaże Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego w edukacji polonistycznej (2007) — on teaching the work.
- Tomasz Jan Chlebowski, Horyzonty spotkań Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (Difin, 2014).
Several conference volumes belong here too: Ryszard Kapuściński w labiryncie współczesności (Jagiellonian University Press, 2004), Ryszard Kapuściński. Portret dziennikarza i myśliciela (Opole, 2008), Ryszard Kapuściński. Próba portretu (Warsaw, 2008), O twórczości Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego. Próba interpretacji (Rzeszów, 1998), Wobec świata i mediów (Jagiellonian University Institute of Journalism, 1999), and “Życie jest z przenikania…” Szkice o twórczości Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (PIW, 2008).
Conversations and translators
Marek Miller, Pisanie. Z Ryszardem Kapuścińskim rozmawia Marek Miller (2011) collects long conversations on the craft of writing.
Two Znak volumes, Podróże z Ryszardem Kapuścińskim (2007 and 2009), gather the accounts of his translators — thirteen in the first volume and fourteen in the second — on what it is to carry his prose into another language. They are among the most revealing things written about the work.
Krzysztof Mroziewicz, Prawdy ostateczne Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (2008) and Krzysztof Masłoń, Miłość nie jest nam dana (2005) approach him from the position of fellow journalists.
Special issues
- Topos no. 1–2 (86–87), 2006 — an issue devoted to Kapuściński.
- Znak no. 621, 2007 — “A spiritual atlas of the world. Farewell to Ryszard Kapuściński.”
Individual records for every title, with covers and publication details, are catalogued in the Polish version of this section.