Wiesław Wernic Explained

Wiesław Wernic (28 February 1906 in Warsaw, 1 August 1986), popular Polish writer and journalist, best known for his series of Wild West books,[1] sometimes called "Polish Karl May".

During World War II he was a member of the Home Army and fought in the Warsaw Uprising, and after the war he worked for a Polish daily Rzeczpospolita and weekly "Tygodnik Demokratyczny". His first stories were published in 1927, he returned to writing in the sixties when he wrote his first Wild West book "Tropy wiodą przez prerię". Over the next 30 years he wrote 20 books about the adventures of Doctor John (Jan in Polish; his alter ego) and his friend Charles (Karol in Polish) Gordon. Unlike Karl May to whom he was often compared, Wernic visited United States a number of times where he met with American Indians and was a leading authority on the history and customs of the Wild West.

Some of his books were translated into German, Slovak, Romanian and Czech languages. He sold well over 2,000,000 books in Poland and over 350,000 in other languages.

Works

Notes and References

  1. Book: Jakowska, Krystyna . Podręczny słownik pisarzy polskich . 2006 . Wiedza Powszechna . 978-83-214-1360-0 . 600 . pl.