Mariusz Szczygieł

Mariusz Szczygieł (September 5, 1966 Złotoryja, Poland) is a Polish journalist and writer.

Mariusz Szczygieł graduated in journalism and political science at the University of Warsaw in 2000. At 16, he began writing for the weekly-paper Na przełaj. In spite of communist-era censorship, he published a shocking collection of reportages titled The Shrift, which were about gay and lesbian youth in Poland.

As a TV presenter of the popular program Na każdy temat (On Every Topic), Szczygieł was the first person in Poland to publicly speak the word "orgasm" on screen.

In 2002, he stopped working for TV Polsat and concentrated on writing for Gazeta Wyborcza. Presently, he is the first assistant manager of the weekly supplement Duży Format and assistant manager of its reportage-section.

His work is cited in every anthology of contemporary Polish journalism. Most notable are his studies of the Czechoslovak, and especially Czech, culture and life-style. His popular book Gottland (2006), is - according to Adam Michnik - the first cubistic reportage of the world. It received the European Book Prize as well as Polish Booksellers prize as an extremely popular book on everything Czech.

• 1993 Polish Journalists' Association Award
• 1996 Kryształowe Zwierciadło Award
• 1997 TV Polsat award (the best talk show)
• 2000 Award of the Polish Primate
• 2004 Melchior Award
• 2007 Beata Pawlak's Award
• 2007 Nike Award "Audience Award", Gottland
• 2009 Prix Amphi in Lille
• 2009 European Book Prize, Gottland

• Niedziela, która zdarzyła się w środę (Sunday that Happened on Wednesday), Warsaw 1996;
• Na każdy temat – talk show do czytania, with Witold Orzechowski, (On Every Topic), Warsaw 1997;
• Gottland, Berlin 2008.
• 20 lat nowej Polski w reportażach według Mariusza Szczygła (20 Years of New Poland in Reportage Writing), Wołowiec 2009;
• Kaprysik. Damskie historie, Warszawa 2010;
• Zrób sobie raj (Make Your Own Paradise), Wołowiec 2010.

In anthologies

• Kraj Raj (The Land Paradise), Warsaw 1993;
• Wysokie Obcasy. Twarze (High Heels. Faces), Warsaw 2003;
• Ouvertyr till livet, Stockholm 2003;
• La vie est un reportage. Anthologie du reportage litteraire polonais, Montricher 2005;
• Von Minsk nach Manhattan. Polnische reportagen, Vienna 2006.