This is a collection of essays to celebrate 45 years of Professor Aleksander Szwedek’s academic endeavour and his impressive contribution to the development of linguistics in Poland and abroad. The articles seek to represent an eclectic range of topics in linguistics, literature and cultural studies. They reflect the versatile and influential nature of Professor Szwedek’s work, and have been contributed by colleagues and former pupils, now active in a variety of academic fields, within English studies. All have been inspired in various ways by the work and teaching of Aleksander Szwedek.

The Editors: Ewa Wełnic graduated from the Department of English at Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań and holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Łódź. She was a director of Canadian Studies Resource Centre at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and from 2001 to 2004 President of the Polish Association for Canadian Studies. She is currently teaching at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, lecturing on British, American and Canadian literatures. Jacek Fisiak is a linguist and professor ordinarius of English at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, an esteemed contributor to the development of linguistics and English studies in Poland and abroad. He is the author of numerous books and articles published internationally.