Bruno Schulz was a Polish Jewish writer and artist, regarded as one of the greatest Polish-language writers of all time. He was born and lived most of his life in the town of Drohobych, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now part of Ukraine. he published two collections of short stories - Cinnamon Shops and The Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass - during his lifetime Schulz was shot and killed by a German Gestapo officer in 1942, whilst walking home with a loaf of bread. Much of his writing, including his final, unfinished novel The Messiah, was lost in the Holocaust.

Stanley Bill is a translator and professor of Polish Studies. He is the founder and editor-at-large of the news and opinion website Notes from Poland.