SOSNOWSKI Jerzy

Born on 14 May 1962 in Warsaw; son of the electronic engineers Andrzej Sosnowski and Anna, née Walczak; both his parents were also civilian lecturers at the Military University of Technology (Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna) in Warsaw. He was a pupil at the Nicolaus Copernicus Grammar School No. XXXIII in Warsaw. During this period, he made his debut with the short story Ankieta (Questionnaire), which he submitted to a competition for readers of the youth magazine "Płomyk". It was published in the periodical in 1977 (no. 22) before being reprinted in the anthology O mnie, o tobie, o nas (About Me, About You, About Us; Warsaw, 1979). While in the fourth class of grammar school, he was victorious at the Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language. He completed advanced secondary education in 1981 and started studying Polish philology at the University of Warsaw (UW). He was a member of the Independent Students’ Association (NZS) and during the autumn 1981 strike at the university was elected to the Faculty Strike Committee. He was active in student self-management and participated in student scholarly circles, including serving as president of the Warsaw Circle of Polish Philology Scholars from 1983 to 1985. In 1983, he made his debut as a literary history in the circle's periodical, „Z Archiwum Warszawskiego Koła Polonistów”, where he published the article Funkcja pisarza w koncepcji kultury Stanisława Brzozowskiego (The Role of the Author in Stanisław Brzozowski's Concept of Culture). He also ran the student theatre Gdzie (Where), which staged just one play. In 1985, he co-edited the student literary periodical "Hiperball", which was suspended after the publication of the first issue. In 1986, he was awarded a master's degree with distinction and subsequently began his career in research and teaching at UW, initially as a trainee assistant, then as an assistant and then senior assistant at the Department of Positivism and Young Poland. In 1989/90, he gave lectures for final year secondary school pupils at the Old Town House of Culture in Warsaw on the history of Polish literature. He used the talks as the basis for a popular-science book (unpublished). In 1990, he received a three-month research grant to visit Paris as part of the Action Thématique Programme. From 1991 to 1993, while still teaching at UW, he also lectured at the Polish Language Teaching College in Suwałki. In the 1990s, he began combining his literary-historical research with literary criticism, focusing largely on authors associated with the periodicals "bruLion" and "Czas Kultury". His articles, essays and reviews appeared in publications inlcuding "Dialog" (1989 and 1992), "Ogród" (1991-92) and "Kresy" (1993 and 1995). He also collaborated as a journalist with the daily newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" into the 2000s, where he published articles jointly with his then wife Danuta Sosnowska. He also worked with the periodical "Czas Kultury" (intermittently, 1991-97); his poem Chomik Wszechmogącego (The Almighty's Hamster) initially appeared in the periodical under the pen-name Andrzej Walczak (1997, no. 3) and was subsequently republished in the novel Wielościan (Polyhedron), where a fictional biography of the author appeared. He made references to the figure of Andrzej Walczak in other works. He was employed at Polish Television (TVP) from July 1992 until June 1993 as head of the humanities programming section at the Chief Editorial Office of Educational Television. After a break, he returned in 1996 as head of the editorial office for cultural journalism at TVP1, where he also presented the cultural show Pegaz (Pegasus) until 1998. He was a scriptwriter on documentary films produced by Educational Television and was also involved in them as a narrator or interviewer. From 1995 to 2002, he taught Polish language at the private Authors' Non-Public Grammar School No. 42 in Warsaw. In recognition of his work there, he received the prize of the Minister of National Education (2nd class) in 2000. He co-authored a curriculum for teaching Polish language in middle schools, which was adapted to the demands of the new system of final exams in secondary education. In 1998, he abandoned his doctoral thesis on Tadeusz Miciński and resigned from his posts at UW and TVP to focus on writing. In 2001, he published two novels and in subsequent years developed his work as a prose writer and essayist. He started appearing on Polish Radio in 2000, where he was employed from 2002. He started out on Polish Radio 2, presenting the show Słowo za słowo (Word for Word). From 2001 to 2007 (and again from 2009 to 2016), he worked with Polish Radio 3 as one of the co-hosts of Klub Trójki (Radio Three Club) and then also on the shows LBŚ – Literackie Biuro Śledcze (Literary Investigation Office; in 2004 and 2011-2015), Trójkowy Znak Jakości (Three's Mark of Quality; 2009-16) and Trójkowy Wehikuł Czasu (Three's Time Machine; 2010-16). In 2002, he became a lecturer in the history of Polish and world literature, media studies and creative writing at the Institute of Culture and Communication at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS) in Warsaw. He was formally employed at the university from 2005 to 2007, before returning to a more informal role. In January 2004, he established his blog (initially at www.jerzysosnowski.com, then at www.jerzysosnowski.pl), which he continues to update. He published individual articles in the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" and monthly "Więź", where he later wrote the regular columns Eks post (2005-2015) and Na progu (At the Threshold; from 2016). He also served on its editorial board from 2013, when it became a quarterly. In autumn 2006, he returned to TVP, working for its Kultura channel, where he presented the show Rozmowy w Studiu Kultura (Conversation in Kultura's Studio) for two months, before hosting the programmes Rozmowy (Conversations) and Spotkania (Encounters) from September until 2016. He took several trips abroad, travelling to cities including Buenos Aires for the book fair in 2004 and to Jerusalem as a journalist with Polish Radio 3 in 2007. In 2006, he received the Golden Arrow (Złoty Grot) award from the Art-Education-Promotion Association in recognition of his work inspiring young humanities scholars to become culturally active, while in 2009 he was on the ten-person shortlist of nominees for the title of Champion of Polish speech (Mistrz mowy polskiej) in the ninth edition of this competition. He collaborated with the Institute of Reportage, which was established in Warsaw, and from 2010 he participated in discussions with authors organized by the Institute. In 2011, he was appointed to the Polish Language Council of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he also served a second term from 2015 to 2018. From 2014, he was head of the journalism section of Polish Radio 3. In 2016, he was dismissed from this post as a result of "violating the principle of loyalty towards the employer". He contested the decision and sought compensation for unfair dismissal from the directors of Polish Radio. He won his case at a court of first instance and the verdict was upheld by the appeal court of Warsaw District Court in May 2018. In 2016, he became a member of the Society of Journalism. From 2017 to 2018, he presented the regular show Nasłuchiwanie (Listening In) on TOK FM. He joined the staff at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS University) in Warsaw, teaching in the fields of journalism and social communication, contemporary culture, media and digital culture. He continued to publish essays, column pieces, reviews and articles primarily in "Więź" and "Tygodnik Powszechny", as well as in the periodicals "Książki" and "W Drodze" and on the koduj24.pl site (from 2016; under: http://koduj24.pl/autor/jerzy-sosnowski). In January 2006, together with his new wife Agnieszka Duraczyńska, he established the St Agnes Grant for gifted pupils in the humanities at the Henryk Sienkiewicz Grammar School No. 2 in Kołobrzeg. He lives in Warsaw.