A Tribute to Ryszard Kapuscinski

 April 29, 2007 | New York Public Library | New York City

With Breyten Breytenbach, Elzbieta Czyzewska, Carolin Emcke, Philip Gourevitch, Adam Michnik, Salman Rushdie, Lawrence Weschler

Curated by Philip Gourevitch, Lawrence Weschler, and Paul Holdengräber; co-sponsored by LIVE from the NYPL; co-presented by The Paris Review and the Polish Cultural Institute

A celebration of the life and work of Ryszard Kapuscinski, visionary journalist and world-besotted fabulist, and one of the great travelers of the 20th century (true heir to his hero and subject of his last book, Travels with Herodotus). Kapuscinski was a living link between Bruno Schulz and Gabriel García Márquez, with whom he was still team-teaching classes to young Latin American journalists only a few years back. Above all, he was a dear, sweet man—brave, kind, and fiercely clear-seeing. Salman Rushdie, Philip Gourevitch, Adam Michnik, Lawrence Weschler, Carolin Emcke, and Breyten Breytenbach join together to contemplate the lasting significance of this Polish master and longtime PEN supporter, who died earlier this year in Warsaw at the age of 74. Polish-American actress Elzbieta Czyzewska will read passages from Kapuscinski’s work.

PHOTO GALLERY
Copyright © 2007 Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center

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From the PEN Blogs

• Will Heinrich:
Yesterday Barnaby attended a lovely tribute to the great writer and reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski in the equally lovely Celeste Bartos Room in the New…[More]

• Jane Ciabattari:
riends and admirers of Ryszard Kapuscinski, the Polish wire service reporter turned literary genius who died in January, gathered Sunday at the New York [More]