Eric Koch for Anefo · CC0

Jerzy Kosiński was born Józef Lewinkopf in Poland, survived the Holocaust as a child with the help of Polish villagers, and later emigrated to the United States, where he wrote in a second language and served twice as president of the American branch of PEN. His novel Being There, a satire of television and appearance mistaken for substance, became a 1979 film, and his earlier, more disturbing wartime novel The Painted Bird was adapted for the screen decades later, in 2019.