Marek Baraniecki is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 writer and journalist. He graduated in environmental engineering

Environmental engineering

Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...

. In 1985 he published a short story collection Głowa Kasandry, and for a novel with the same title he was given the Janusz A. Zajdel Award

Janusz A. Zajdel Award

The Janusz A. Zajdel Award , often called just Zajdel,is the annual award given by the Polish science fiction and fantasy fandom for the best stories published in the previous year...

.

Marek Baraniecki was born on June 16, 1954 in Gliwice

Gliwice

Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

, Poland. A graduate of Silesian University of Technology

Silesian University of Technology

Silesian University of Technology is a university located in Gliwice, Silesia, Poland. It was founded in 1945 by Polish professors of the Lwow Polytechnic, who were forced to leave their native city and move to the Recovered Territories .The Silesian University of Technology has 12...

, for several years he worked as an environmental engineer before committing himself to journalism and writing. His literary début was Karlgoro godzina 18 (Karlgoro, 6pm) short story, published in "Fantastyka

Fantastyka

Fantastyka , is a Polish speculative fiction monthly fantasy and science fiction magazine....

" magazine.

The best-known of his works however is a novel titled Głowa Kasandry (Cassandra

Cassandra

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...

's Head) published for the first time in 1985 and instantly awarded the Janusz A. Zajdel Award

Janusz A. Zajdel Award

The Janusz A. Zajdel Award , often called just Zajdel,is the annual award given by the Polish science fiction and fantasy fandom for the best stories published in the previous year...

. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, in 2004 the Głowa Kasandry was voted by Gazeta Wyborcza

Gazeta Wyborcza

Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...

's readers one of top 7 post-apocalyptic novels of all times, alongside the works by Jack London

Jack London

John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...

, Herbert Wells and Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

.

Currently Głowa Kasandry is being prepared for cinema under a working title

Working title

A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...

 Cassandra. Science fiction drama. http://pozytywy.com/artykuly/5979-glowa-kasandry-na-duzym-ekraniehttp://www.stopklatka.pl/wydarzenia/wydarzenie.asp?wi=41097

Source

• Andrzej Niewiadomski, Antoni Smuszkiewicz, Leksykon polskiej literatury fantastycznonaukowej, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań
  Poznan
  Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
  
  1990, ISBN 83-210-0892-5