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Kuncewiczowa's works span from short stories to novels to radio novels to literary diaries.

Early Life
Maria Kuncewiczowa, born Maria Zofia Szczepańska, was born on October 30, 1895 in Samara, Russian Empire. Her parents had been exiled to Russia for involvement in the January 1863 Polish Insurrection, and the family returned to Warsaw when she was 2 years old. Her parents were members of the Polish intelligentsia class, or the impoverished educated class. Her mother was a violist who gave up her career to raise a family, which was one thing that drew Kuncewiczowa to music in her early life. She studied concert singing in conservatories in Warsaw and Paris, but later chose a literary vocation.

Kuncewiczowa, then Szczepańska, married Jerzy Kuncewicz, a Polish lawyer, writer, and activist, in 1921, and one year later, gave birth to her son, Witold Kuncewicz.

Early Career
Kuncewiczowa published her first work, Pro Arte et Studio, in 1918 under her maiden name. Kuncewiczowa began working with the Polish PEN Club in the early 1920s, publishing translations of major works in foreign languages. Kuncewiczowa remained an active member of the PEN Club for the rest of her life

Kuncewiczowa's major breakout was in 1927 when she published her first collection of short stories, Przymierze z Dzieckiem (Covenant With a Child), which is a collection that explores birth, motherhood, the connection between a mother and her child. These stories remain true to Kuncewiczowa's later exploration of themes concerning the psychology of women, ideas of femininity, and motherhood. Her second major work, Twarz Męzczyzny (A Man's Face, 1928), deals with similar issues of femininity, desire, and sexuality.

Kuncewiczowa's most popular work is Cudzoziemka (The Stranger, 1936), which was translated into several foreign languages and quickly gained her national and international recognition. She drew inspiration for this novel from her mother, who gave up her career as a violinist to raise a family.

World War II
Kuncewiczowa left Poland with her husband in 1939 after the German invasion. Before she left Poland, however, Kuncewiczowa became the first Polish author to publish a radio novel, releasing both Dni powszednie państwa Kowalskich and Kowalscy się odnaleźli in 1938. After she left, she traveled to Paris and England, where she wrote Klucze (The Keys, 1943), a literary diary about her struggles being displaced during World War II.

Eventually, Kuncewicza and her husband moved to the United States in 1956, where she taught Polish language and literature at the University of Chicago. Kuncewiowa and her husband moved back to Poland in 1970, where she wrote two autobiographical works, Fantomy (Phantoms, 1971) and Natura (Nature, 1972).