Ryszard Kapuscinski is a world-renowned journalist and author. He was born in 1932 in the eastern Polish town of Pinsk, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939. He spent the war years in a small village near Warsaw. In the 1950s, Kapuscinski studied History at Warsaw University and began working first as a domestic reporter and then as a foreign correspondent. While covering events in Third World countries, Kapuscinski was witness to twenty-eight wars, revolutions, and upheavals. He watched the collapse of colonialism in Africa and the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The Emperor, a surgical portrait of the deterioration of the authoritarian system in Ethiopia, brought Kapuscinski international recognition. His next book, Shah of Shahs, which analyzes tyranny and the deposal of the last Shah of Iran, cemented his reputation as a leading journalist. Another Day of Life recounts the independence of the Portuguese colonies following the overthrow of the Salazar dictatorship. The Soccer War chronicles the war between the Honduras and El Salvador that was ignited by the 1970 World Cup Soccer Tournament in Mexico City. The last to be translated, Imperium tackles the enormous subject of the crumbling Soviet empire.

The fruit of his many years spent in Africa, Ebony has just been published in Polish and will appear in English in 1999. Prior to writing this book, he published three volumes of Lapidarium, the English edition of which will follow Ebony. Lapidaria are composed of notes about his experiences, readings, and reflections on subjects ranging from politics to writing theory.

To date, Kapuscinski has published sixteen non-fiction books and one volume of poetry. They have been translated into over thirty languages.