HOFFMANN, Henryk 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born July 7, 1949, in Poznań, Poland; immigrated to the United States, 1992; naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Leonard and Stefania Hoffman; married; wife's name, Betsy; children: Beata, Katarzyna. Ethnicity: "Polish." Education: Adam Mickiewicz University, M.A. (English philology), 1974.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, McFarland and Co., Inc., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked in Poland as an English teacher, translator, and interpreter, 1974-92; Latin teacher and soccer coach at a school in Asheville, NC, 1994-2000; Perkiomen School, Pennsburg, PA, Latin teacher and soccer coach, 2000—. Kinematograf '75 (film group), Poznań, Poland, vice president, 1980-92.

MEMBER:

Western Writers of America.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Certificate of special congressional recognition, 2000, for "A" Western Filmmakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors, and Actresses.

WRITINGS:

"A" Western Filmmakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors, and Actresses, McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2000.

Western Film Highlights: The Best of the West, 1914-2001, McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

American Movie Stars, with Beata Hoffmann and Katarzyna Hoffmann, in Polish, publication by Montevideo (Wroc&lslash;aw, Poland) expected in 2005; research on American crime fiction and nonfiction in film.

SIDELIGHTS:

Henryk Hoffmann told CA: "The decision to write my first book resulted from the growing urge to share the enormous information I had acquired and the ample opinions I had formulated during thirty years of studying film as a hobby. Following my immigration to the United States, the accessibility to all literature encouraged me to expand my research and include western fiction authors in the scope of my first project. Thus emerged "A" Western Filmmakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors, and Actresses, which ended up as a biographical dictionary of 932 people related to the western genre in nine different capacities. The book gave me a welcome opportunity to express my fascination with the work of some great western writers and filmmakers, as well as to remind readers and movie-goers of some unknown or forgotten names.

"My second book, Western Film Highlights: The Best of the West, 1914-2001, focused on the same subject matter, is a chronological, year-by-year account of the outstanding achievements in the genre. However, it differs from other available publications regarding western and history and criticism in two essential ways. The book is written from an outsider's point of view and—addressed to the computer generation—it offers possibly the most compact approach."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2000, review of "A" Western Film-makers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors, and Actresses, p. 2194.