Henryk Sienkiewicz

Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), Polish novelist, born in Wola Okrzejska, near Łuków, and educated at the University of Warsaw. In 1870 he became a journalist and from 1876 to 1878 traveled through the U.S. as a special correspondent. Sienkiewicz's great popularity came after the publication of his trilogy on Poland's efforts against invasion in the 17th century: With Fire and Sword (1884; trans. 1890), The Deluge (1886; trans. 1891), and Pan Michael (1888; trans. 1893). Probably his most widely translated work is Quo Vadis? (1896), a study of Roman society in the time of the emperor Nero. Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Prize in literature.