Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski (1919-2000) was one of the greatest Polish essayists and thinkers. He is best known for his devastating account of the Soviet gulags A World Apart which was first published in English in 1951. After serving in the Polish Army in WWII, he settled in London and then finally in Naples, Italy. His Journal Written at Night , begun in 1971 and continued to the end of his life, is one of the great monuments of Polish literature. A collection of his short stories translated by Bill Johnston, The Noonday Cemetery & Other Stories, is forthcoming from New Directions.