Stefania Kossowska

Stefania Kossowska, née Szurlej (23 September 1909 – 15 September 2003) was a Polish literary editor, political activist, writer and broadcaster.

Early life Her father was a noted lawyer, Stanisław Szurlej, and her mother, Jadwiga Ciepielowska, was of Polish Jewish descent. The family moved from her native Lwów in Galicia, (now Lviv in Ukraine) to Warsaw in 1920. There, she attended secondary school and began studies for a law degree at the University of Warsaw. She began her writing career while a student contributing to a women's review, "Bluszcz”. Later her journalism encompassed titles such as, the Warsaw evening paper, Wieczór Warszawski, ABC and Prosto z mostu.

Career Before the war she made a brief excursion to Italy, as a press correspondent and there in Sicily, she met Polish artist, Adam Kossowski. They married in the autumn of 1938.

Between 1953 and 1981 Kossowska was increasingly involved with the editing of the weekly, Wiadomości, and contributing the "News from London" column, under the pseudonym, Big Ben. From 1956 to 1992 she was a member of the Union of Polish Writers Abroad (Związek Pisarzy Polskich na Obczyźnie). In the 1980s she was a cultural adviser to the Polish Cultural Foundation (1950), Polska Fundacja Kulturalna in London. In 1994 she donated the Wiadomści archives to the Library of the University of Torun.

Personal life She was widowed in 1986. Her own death followed in 2003. She was buried next to her husband, Adam, in the grounds of Aylesford Priory, Kent. Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Prize (1980) Przyjaciele i znajomi - (Friends and Acquaintances) (1998). Definicja szczęścia. Listy do Anny Frajlich 1972-2003 - (A definition of Happiness: Letters to Anna Frajlich)