Jerzy Kosiński

Born Jerzy Kosiński in Łódź in 1933 to an assimilated Jewish family, he survived the German occupation of Poland as a child, though how closely The Painted Bird's atrocities mirror his actual wartime experience, as opposed to invention, has been disputed for decades, including by his own family.

He emigrated to the United States in 1957, reportedly using invented foundation credentials to secure a visa, then built a prominent literary and social career in New York, serving as president of American PEN and even appearing on screen in the film Reds.

In 1982 a Village Voice investigation alleged that he had relied heavily on uncredited editors and ghostwriters and that his own survival story had been substantially embellished, a scandal that badly damaged his reputation. Suffering from heart disease and depression, he killed himself in New York in 1991, leaving a note behind.