TERAKOWSKA Dorota

Born on 30 August 1938 in Krakow; daughter of Anna Chodacka and Marian Terakowski, a silversmith and producer of ivory goods, who after the war ran a confectioner's before becoming a supplies officer in 1950. She attended the State Primary Music School in Krakow, before completing three classes at the State Music Secondary School. She then attended the J. Joteyko Grammar School, from which she was expelled. She continued her education at the Grammar School for Working Adults. She was employed at the Municipal Office for Public Spaces, then in the administration of the Rakowicki Cemetery, before taking a job at the Mineral Aggregates Plant. She was actively involved in cultural life in Krakow at the time. In May 1956, she joined the Organizational Committee of the Club for Creative Youth at the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret. She worked there as a bartender and then for a year as a performer, singing two songs. She completed her advanced secondary education in 1958. She made a living as a typist before studying sociology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow from 1960. She was also involved as a chorus girl in Wiesław Dymny's cabaret group Remiza (Firehouse), which operated for six months in 1961/62 at the Polish Students' Association (ZSP) club Pod Jaszczurami. In 1962, she worked as a secretary at the University Council of the ZSP at the Higher School of Education (WSP) in Krakow. She started writing works of literature, making her debut in 1962 with the piece Opowiadanie pod tytułem: Opowiadanie (A Short Story Titled: Short Story), which appeared in the weekly "Przekrój" (no. 902). She joined the Youth Circle (Koło Młodych) of the Krakow Branch of the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP). After graduating with a master's degree from WSP, she worked from 1965 to 1968 at the Research Centre for Cultural Sociology (Naukowa Pracownia Socjologii Kultury) at the Pod Baranami Palace in Kraków. In 1969, she became a journalist with the daily "Gazeta Krakowska" (where her by-lines also included: (ter), (ter.)), which was then renamed "Gazeta Południowa" (1975-79; including notes and reviews using the by-lines: (dor), (ter)) before returning to the name "Gazeta Krakowska" in 1980/81, when it was edited by M. Szumowski until it was shut down following the imposition of martial law in December 1981. She was a member of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) from 1969 to 1981, serving on the Voivodeship Commission of the Party Inspectorate. From 1971 to 1981, she was a member of the Association of Journalists (SD) (then from 1982 to 1982 the Association of Journalists of the People's Republic of Poland – SDPRL). She co-founded the Kuźnica Artists and Activists Club in April 1975, of which she was subsequently a member. She remained active as a journalist, publishing articles, reviews, notes, reportages pieces and interviews in "Przekrój" (1976-82; she travelled to Uzbekistan as a reporter for the weekly in 1976), the quarterly "Zdanie" (1979-80) and "Zeszyty Prasoznawcze", the quarterly of the Press Research Centre (1982-88; she was head of the review section from 1987 to 1988). During this period, she received prizes in several reportage competitions, including winning the A. Polewka prize in 1978, the 1977 competition "Poles' everyday lives" (Polaków dzień powszedni), a distinction in the R. Urban National Prize in 1980, and a prize at the Reporters' Tournament in 1980. She started writing books for children and young readers in 1979, which were not published until the late 1980s as they did not receive approval from the censorship office before then. During martial law, she earned a living by knitting jumpers. In 1987, she won a prize in the fantasy category in the Czesław Janczarski literary competition, which was organized by the children's magazine "Miś". She joined the Polish Writers' Association in 1989. In 1990, she co-founded the daily "Czas Krakowski", where she subsequently worked. That year she also took up a post at the revived "Gazeta Krakowska", working there until 1998. She was initially editor of the weekly supplement "Dekada Literacka", which became a standalone biweekly (1990-1991). She also edited comics, including from 1990 to 1998 "The Amazing Spider-Man” ("Spidermen", "Człowiek pająk") and "The Punisher" ("Pogromca") from 1990 to 1997. She remained active as a literary writer, publishing reviews, articles, reportage pieces and columns again in "Przekrój" (from 1989; including from 1991 to 1996 the regular column "Między PRL-em a Rzeczpospolitą" [Between the People's Republic and the Republic] and from 1998 to 2000 "Muzeum Rzeczy Nieistniejących" [Museum of Non-Existent Things]). She was also deputy chair of the Przekrój Journalists Cooperative from 1995 to 1999. She also published in "Polityka" (1992) "Guliwer" (1995-98), "Nowe Książki" (1996-97 and 2001), and the Polish edition of the monthly "Elle" (2003-04). She was nominated for "Polityka's" prestigious passport prize in 1998 in recognition of oeuvre and artistic activities. In 2002, she was nominated for the Aleksander Kwaśniewski presidential prize for her writing for children and young readers. In 1998, she received the Literary Prize of the Polish section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). In the later part of her life, she contributed to the fantasy literature discussion group news:pl.rec.fantastyka.sf-f, using the address terdor@callisto.krakow.pl. She married the jazz musician Andrzej Nowak in 1963, divorcing around three years later in 1966. Around 1968, she started a relationship with the journalist, documentary film maker and later film producer Maciej Szumowski, and they married in 2002. She had two daughters: the journalist Katarzyna Nowak (b. 1964) and the film director Małgorzata Szumowska (b. 1973). She died on 4 January 2004 in Krakow. She is buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery. Her husband was buried alongside her a month later, as he died on 1 February 2004.