Witold Szabłowski is an award-winning Polish journalist and author renowned for his probing, human-centered reporting on the tangled histories of Eastern Europe. Born in 1980, Szabłowski began his career at Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s leading daily newspaper, quickly earning renown for his immersive, empathetic storytelling. His work spans war zones, post-communist transformations, and the everyday lives of people caught in historical upheaval. Szabłowski’s books—including “Dancing Bears” and “How to Feed a Dictator”—have been translated into more than a dozen languages, earning accolades such as the European Parliament Journalism Prize and the Beata Pawlak Award. With a keen eye for paradox and absurdity, Szabłowski invites readers into surprising narratives—where dancing bears symbolize the challenges of newfound freedom and chefs’ recipes reveal the inner worlds of infamous dictators. Balancing rigor and compassion, Szabłowski’s writing bridges cultures and eras, always attentive to the complexities and ironies of modern history. His captivating blend of reportage and storytelling has made him one of the most distinctive voices in European non-fiction today.