Wislawa Szymborska
(b. 1923)

Wislawa Szymborska was a teenager when Germany invaded her native Poland in 1939, beginning World War II. Because the German government closed all Poland's schools and universities, Szymborska pursued her education by attending illegal classes until the end of the war. In 1945, Szymborska began studying Polish Literature and Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She graduated in 1948, and later that year, her first published poem, "Szukam slowa ("I am Looking for a Word")" appeared in the newspaper Dziennik Polski. Three years later, Szymborska finished her first book of poems. However, the Communists, a political party that had recently gained power, wouldn't allow it to be published. They considered her poetry to be too complex and materialistic. She returned to her poetry, altering it to make it more political. Her first collection, Dlagtego Zyjemy ("That's Why We Are Alive"), appeared in 1952.

Following the publication of her first book, Szymborska took a job as a poetry editor and columnist for the Krakow literary magazine, Zycie Literackie. She held this position until 1981. In 1957, Szymborska completed a collection of poems, Wolanie do Yeti ("Appeal to the Yeti"), which marked her first break with the Communist prescribed style of writing known as Social-realism, literature based on Marxist criteria.

During her lifetime, Szymborska has published 16 collections of poetry, including her latest, Chwila (2002), which was published when she was 79 years old. Her poems have been translated into many languages, including English, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic. In 1996, at the age of 73, Szymborska was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. After receiving the award, Szymborska, a private person, retreated to her home in Krakow where she continues to live today.

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