ZYMAN Edward

Born on 20 May 1943 in Dobromierz (Świętokrzyski region); son of the worker Franciszek Zyman and Klara, née Smolich. He lived in Dobromierz until the age of five and then moved to Radomsko, where he completed primary education and attended the Comprehensive Metalwork School for one year. He continued his education at Grammar School No. II, which he attended from 1958 to 1962. In 1961/62, he was a member of the Literary Group at the District House of Culture in Radomsko. He published his first literary pieces in the Group's bulletin "Wizytówka" and in the local newspaper "Gazeta Radomszczańska". During this period, he joined the Lodz branch of the Young Writers' Correspondence Club (KKMP) that was based at the Voivodeship Office of the Union of Rural Youth (ZMW). He made his debut as a poet in 1961 with the poem Kto to jest matka (What a mother is) that appeared in "Z tej strony", a one-off publication issued by the Lodz-based group "Nowa linia". After completing advanced secondary education in 1962, he started a degree in sociology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow, graduating with a master's degree in 1967. During his studies, he made his debut as a prose writer with the short story Matka (Mother), which was published in "Tygodnik Kulturalny" (1965, no. 35). His debut as a literary critic followed in 1966, with a review of Salomon Łastik's volume of social reportage Trudne dzieci (Difficult Children), which appeared in the education periodical "Wychowanie" (no. 1). He published poems, short stories, reviews and articles in other periodicals, including "Gazeta Radomszczańska" (1963 and 1966-67), the "Nad Wartą" monthly supplement of "Gazeta Częstochowska" (1964-67), "Tygodnik Kulturalny" (1965), "Zarzewie" (1965), "Kamena" (1966), "Odgłosy" (1967) and "Współczesność" (1967). Between 1967 and 1978, he worked in the steel industry as a sociologist, head of the section for labour relations, and department head at the Bobrek Steel Mill in Bytom, while from 1973 to 1978 he was press officer of the Iron and Steel Mills Board (Zjednoczenie Hutnictwa Żelaza i Stali), the state body responsible for managing this branch of industry. He joined the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) during this period. Throughout the 1970s, he was actively involved in the youth literary movement. He was a member of the Bytom-based Słowień Literary Club and remained active in the Correspondence Club for Young Writers, where he served as deputy chair of the Katowice branch before becoming deputy chair of its National Council in 1974. He was later appointed chair. He was also a member and chair of the Youth Circle of the Katowice Branch of the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP). He developed his literary output, publishing poems, short stories and literary criticism during this period in many literary and socio-cultural periodicals, including "Fakty i Myśli" (1970-72), "Fakty" (1978-81), "Głos Młodzieży" (1972), "Nadodrze" (1972-73), "Nad Wartą" (1968-74), "Nowy Wyraz" (1975-77), "Nowe Książki" (1976 and 1978), "Odgłosy" (1971 and 1978), "Odra" (1978), "Opole" (1973-75 and 1978), "Poezja" (1973-75), "Poglądy" (1970-80), "Przemiany" (1971), "Regiony" (1973 and 1975) , "Tygodnik Kulturalny" (1971 and 1974), and "Współczesność" (1971). He lived in Zabrze, Bytom and then Katowice. He was the winner of numerous literary competitions in the fields of poetry, prose and reportage. In 1978/79, he worked as a journalist at the Editorial Office of Theatre Performances and Cultural Journalism at the Katowice centre of Polish Television, then until 1981 he was deputy director of the Literary Section at the Katowice Station of Polish Radio. Working in radio, he was active as a journalist, reporting on culture and society. He also wrote radio plays and co-authored features on literature that were broadcast on national stations. He remained active as a writer, publishing during this period likewise in "Kontrasty" (1980), "Nowy Wyraz" (1980-81), "Nurt" (1980), "Opole" (1980), "Przemiany" (1980-81), "Student" (1980) and "Tygodnik Kulturalny" (1981). He also collaborated with the film industry and the independent press. In 1980/81, he served alongside Michał Komar as literary director of the Silesia Film Studio while in 1981 he was editor of "Tygodnik Katowicki", a periodical published outside the reach of state censorship by the Silesian-Dąbrowa Basin Regional Board of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity. He was deputy chair of the Founding Committee and then chair of the Workplace Commission of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity at the Katowice Station of Polish Radio. He was also involved in the activities of Solidarity's National Commission of Radio and Television Workers. In March 1981, following what was known as the Bydgoszcz provocation, he left the ruling PZPR. During that year, he published a cycle of reports in "Tygodnik Katowicki" on the crushing of workers' protests in Radom in June 1976. Following the imposition of martial law in December 1981, the series was suspended. He was arrested in the night of 12-13 December 1981 and held under arrest until December 1982 in prisons and isolation centres in Katowice, Strzelce Opolskie, Uherce, Kielce-Piaski, Rzeszów, and Nowy Łupków. He was removed from his post at Polish Radio by a special hearing and forbidden carrying out his profession. In March 1983, he and his family emigrated to Canada, where he soon became one of the leading figures in and organizers of Polish literary life there. He initially lived in Calgary (Alberta), where he was co-creator of a Polish television service, edited the news periodical "Biuletyn Polonijny", and in 1984 edited "Dialogi", the Edmonton-based quarterly of the Alberta Region Canadian Polish Congress. In September 1984, he moved to Toronto where he was editor-in-chief of "Głos Polski – Gazeta Polska", the weekly of the Polish National Union in Canada. In 1988/89, he served as editor of "Gazeta", while in 1988 he co-authored and co-produced the weekly Polish-language television program Polish Studio. He ran a business between 1989 and 2003. In 1999/2000, he was chair of the Polish Community Media Corporation, which published the periodical "Związkowiec". He contributed literary texts and pieces of literature in many Polish émigré publications, including "Kroniki" (Copenhagen/ Oslo/ Stockholm, 1983-84) and the various London-based periodicals "Puls" (1983), "Dziennik Polski i Dziennik Żołnierza" (1985) and "Ekspresja" (2014). He also published in "Przegląd Polski", a supplement of the New York-based "Dziennik Polski" (1984 and intermittently 1996-2015; here he published numerous reviews, essays, polemical pieces and interviews with writers), the theatre studies journal "Slavic and East European Performance" (New York, 1999), and the periodicals "Dialogi" (Edmonton, 1984), "Akcenty" (Calgary, 1992-93), "Books in Canada" (Toronto, 1998), "Dziennik Związkowy" (Chicago, 2006-2007), as well as in the Toronto-based Polish-language publications "Echo Tygodnia" (1983-84), "Związkowiec" (1983-84 and 1998-2001; including the regular review column Z mojej półki [From my shelf]), "Głos Polski" (1984-1988; including the regular column Teksty i konteksty [Texts and Contexts], and the diary column Z życia Polonii. Kronika towarzyska i polityczna [From the lives of Polish émigrés: A social and political diary]), "Gazeta" (1988-89; including the regular column Pod prąd [Against the grain] and the diary column Kronika towarzyska i polityczna Polonii [A social and political diary of émigré life]), "Magazyn Husarz" (1998), "Dziennik" (2001-2003; including the regular columns: Polonijny parnas literacki [The Polonia's Literary Parnassus] and Wiersze z mojej półki [Poems from my shelf], as well as the annual satirical column Szopki noworoczne [New Year szopki], published under the pen-name Marian Chudzik), "Goniec" (2004-2005, and intermittently 2007-11), and in "Merkuriusz Polski" (2011 and 2015). He was one of the founding members of the Władysław and Nelli Turzański Foundation, which was established in Toronto in 1988. He subsequently became its deputy chair. He was chair of the Polish Publishing Fund in Canada from 1995. He edited several dozen volumes of poetry, memoirs, reportage and columns published by the Fund, while also serving as co-editor of its literary periodical "Nowy Prąd" (1998 and 2003). He was author of the weekly literary-musical magazine programme Wierszem i prozą (In poetry and prose), broadcast on Polskie Radio Toronto (1998). In 1989, he started collaborating with periodicals published in Poland. His poems, short stories, reviews, essays and column pieces appeared in "Akcent" (2002, 2009, 2015, and 2018), "Archiwum Emigracji" (1999 and 2012), „Dedal” (2004), "Fraza" (intermittently 2002-18; including between 2004 and 2007 the regular column Wiersze z mojej półki [Poems from my shelf]), "Lublin. Kultura i Społeczeństwo" (2012), "Migotania, Przejaśnienia" (2012-2013 and 2016), "Świętokrzyski Kwartalnik Literacki" (2007 and 2013), "Radostowa" (2007), "Twórczość" (2010 and 2016), and "Migotania" (2016). In 2007, he joined the Polish Writers' Association (SPP). He was awarded the Union of Polish Writers Abroad prize in 2011. He received the Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture in 2010. He married the medical administrator Anna Bogusława Nowak in 1962; they have three children: Iwona (b. 1963), Piotr (b. 1968) and Victoria (b. 1986). He lives in Mississauga in the Toronto metropolitan area.