Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932-2007)
The first snows fell yesterday, and with them one of Poland's most celebrated writers.
Ryszard Kapuscinski died of cancer in a Warsaw hospital. He was 74. Of the post-war generation of Polish prose writers, only Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) had achieved greater international success.
Kapuscinski first found his feet in Africa, after being appointed Poland's foreign correspondent (1964). He chronicled the collapse of colonialism, as well as the downfall of controversial figures such as Haile Selassie and Idi Amin, the latter the subject of the current film 'The Last King of Scotland.'
After many years spent following the world's tremors - Kapuscinski was for decades Poland's only full-time foreign correspondent - he fell in with the Solidarity protest movement, for which he lost many of his journalistic privileges.
However, after the fall of the Berlin Wall the author penned 'Imperium' (1993), a devastating study of the Soviet Union. Translated into many languages, it remains one of Kapuscinski's most acclaimed works.
Besides winning the affections of readers in many countries, Kapuscinski was also a highly respected figure amongst fellow travel writers.
The New York Times hailed him as 'a writer of shimmering allegories' whose work was 'often tinged with magical realism'.
Kapuscinski is survived by his wife and daughter.