Szymborska, Wislawa

The poet, essayist and translator Maria Wislawa Anna Szymborska was born in Prowent, near Bnin, now part of Kórnik, Poland. The family moved to Torun in 1924, and when she was eight years old to Krakow where she was educated. She attended the Jagellonian University and read Polish literature and sociology 1945–48. In 1947 she began to work for Úwietlica Krakowska and illustrated books. She was an editor and columnist on the literary magazine Zycie Literacia between 1953 and 1981 until she moved on to the monthly magazine Pismo where she stayed until 1983. She published her work in the underground magazine Arka and the Polish exile magazine Kultura in Paris under the pseudonym Stañcykowna. She was a member of the Polish author’s union (SPP), and in 1988 she joined Polish PEN. She became honorary doctor at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, in 1995 and in 2001 she was appointed honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.