Biography: Henryk Grynberg

Born in 1936 in Warsaw, Poland, Henryk Grynberg survived the Nazi occupation in hiding and on so-called "Aryan papers." In 1959 he graduated from Warsaw University with a Master's degree in Journalism, became an actor with the Jewish State Theater in Warsaw, and started to publish prose and poetry. In late 1967, while on tour in the United States, Grynberg refused to return to Poland in protest against the regime's anti-Jewish campaign and the censorship of his writing. In 1971, after two years of graduate studies at UCLA, he received a MA in Russian Literature and moved to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. For 20 years, he worked there for the U.S. Information Agency (mostly at the Voice in America) and now is a self-employed writer.

Grynberg has authored more than 20 books of prose and poetry (including two dramas) mostly on the Holocaust experience and post-Holocaust trauma. A recipient of all major Polish literary prizes, he contributes to the Polish press and English-language journals. Some of his essays and articles appeared in the Commentary, the Midstream, and Soviet-Jewish Affairs (London). Two of his novels have been published in English translation: "Child of the Shadows," Vallentine Mitchell, London 1969, and it's sequel, "The Victory," Northwestern University Press 1993. This year Northwestern is preparing an English edition of his documentary book "Children of Zion." Henryk Grynberg's books have been translated into French, German, Italian, Hebrew and Dutch.