KUSIBA Marek

Born on 22 September 1951 in Krosno; son of the flying instructor Józef Kusiba and the crane operator Alicja, née Ochał. After completing advanced secondary education at the Nicolaus Copernicus Grammar School in Krosno, he studied Polish philology at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin from 1969, graduating with a master's degree in 1975. Between 1969 and 1974, he was a member of the UMCS radio station team (Radio Akademickie UMCS w Lublinie), while from 1972 to 1974 he was involved in the Lublin-based Student Literary Group Samsara. He made his debut as a poet in the periodical "Kamena" in 1972 (no. 10) with the poems Jest to strategia… (This is a strategy...) and Tak winno (It should). He published further poems, prose pieces and reports in this periodical in 1974 and 1976. His first published piece of literary criticism, Droga do „kariery” (A "career" path), appeared in "Kamena" in 1972 (no. 20) and addressed the activities of the Student Journalist Club (Klub Dziennikarzy Studenckich). His poems, literary articles and report also appeared in "Konfrontacje". the student supplement of the local newspaper "Kurier Lubelski" (1971-1974, where he also served as co-editor), in the daily newspaper "Sztandar Ludu" (1972, 1974-75; he was an intern here in 1975), and in "Student" (where he was a correspondent between 1971 and 1977). He joined the Polish Journalists Association (SDP) in 1976. That year he moved to Bialystok where he worked for the literary monthly "Kontrasty" and in the editorial office of the newspaper "Gazeta Współczesna". Between 1976 and 1977, he was a member of the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP) Literary Club in Bialystok. He also published numerous poems, prose pieces, articles, literary and theatre reviews, translations of US-American and Dutch poetry in "Poezja" (1975), "Nowy Wyraz" (1976, 1979-80), "Odra" (1976, 1978), "Student" (1976-77), the Łomża-based "Kontakty" (1980-81), the Warsaw-based "Kultura" (1980-81), "Miesięcznik Literacki" (1981) and "Więź" (1982). He collaborated with Bialystok branches of Polish Radio and Polish Television (1976-1981, including the regular literary show Sobotynka). He received numerous awards for his reporting, including sharing second prize with Teresa Torańska in the 1980 Adam Polewka Prize. He became a member of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity in 1980, participating in its first congress in the Oliwa district of Gdansk. With the imposition of martial law on 13 December 1981, he was barred from working as a professional journalist. Together with three other sacked journalists, he took the Bialystok branch of the Workers' Publishing Cooperative (RSW Prasa-Książka-Ruch – the state monopoly responsible publishing and distribution) to the Employment Tribunal and was awarded compensation. The Polish Service of Radio Free Europe broadcast reports on the case. During this period his volume of reports Wybrzeże świata (Coast of the World; 1982) and the drama Eksmisja (Eviction; co-authored with J. Muszyński, 1983) were banned by censors. During the martial law period he submitted a proposal for a doctoral thesis, Obraz USA i Kanady w literaturze faktu PRL (Images of the USA and Canada in non-fiction works in the People's Republic of Poland) to Prof. Stefan Sawicki at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). He abandoned the idea in 1984, however, when he and his family received assistance from the Canadian government to emigrate. They settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from where he reported for the Polish section of CBC-RCI (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ‒ Radio Canada International) in Montreal. He also worked with the "Halifax Herald" (1984-85) and the Polish-language newspaper "Głos Polski" in Toronto (1986-87). He was also an occasional contributor to the Washington-based radio broadcaster Voice of America. In mid-1985 he and his family moved to Toronto, where he briefly worked for the weekly "The Polish Express – Express Polski". The same year he became a building manager for Maysfield Property Management Inc. (1985-1996), where he organized regular literary events (the building thus became known as "Kusibówka" in cultural circles). While in Toronto he also cooperated with CBC television as a consultant on the series "Struggles for Democracy" (1987-88), with the city’s local station on the weekly programme "Polish Studio" (1988-2003), the weekly publication "Związkowiec" (1997-2003; including a stint as deputy editor-in-chief), the monthly "Books in Canada" (1998-1999; deputy editor-in-chief), the monthly "Exile" (1999, 2000, and 2011), the quarterly "Alphabet City" (2000-01), the newspaper "Dziennik" (2000-02; including the daily column "Nieco-dziennik"), the weekly "The New Yorker” (2005-06), and "Przegląd Polski", the cultural supplement of the New York newspaper "Nowy Dziennik", where from 2000 he published the regular column Żabką przez Atlantyk (Swimming Breaststroke across the Atlantic). After 1989 he also contributed to periodicals in Poland, including the Lublin-based "Akcent" (intermittently from 1993), the Rzeszow-based "Fraza" (intermittently between 2000 and 2014), "Podkarpacie" (2002 and 2004), the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" (2004) and the online portals "Zwoje" (1997-2006) and "Studio Opinii" (studioopinii.pl; 2011-15). In 1990, he joined the board of the Polish Canadian Publishing Fund, while in 1992 he was appointed to the board of the W&N Turzański Foundation in Toronto. Between May and December 1996 he collaborated with Polish Radio and Polish Television in Bialystok, broadcasting the daily radio column Daty i tematy (Dates and Themes) and producing six television programmes, including Budzik (Alarm Clock) and Słowo od autora (Author's Notes). He also worked contributed to the Bialystok edition of the daily "Gazeta Wyborcza". Between 2004 and 2005, he was a lecturer in journalism at the Jerzy Giedroyc College of Communication and Media in Warsaw, where he founded and led the Institute for the Study and Documentation of Polish Émigrés and Migrants (Instytut Badań i Dokumentowania Emigracji/Migracji). In 2009, he co-founded the Ryszard Kapuściński Summer Reportage Academy (Wakacyjna Akademia Reportażu im. R. Kapuścińskiego) in Siennica Różana, where between 2009 and 2013 he gave a series of lectures, Nocny Marek. Sztuka pisarska Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego (Marek the Night Owl: Ryszard Kaupuściński's Art of Writing). In 2007, he joined the Polish Writers' Association (SPP) and the Canadian PEN Club. He married the Russian studies scholar Barbara Krawczyk in 1976; they have two sons, Mateusz (b. 1982) and Mikołaj (b. 1986). He lives in Mississauga, in the Toronto metropolitan area.