Julia Hartwig-Międzyrzecka (14 August 1921 – 14 July 2017) was a Polish

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, play ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

, considered to be one of Poland's most important poets.

Life and career

She was born and raised in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

. She studied Polish and French literature at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

and continued her studies at the

Catholic University of Lublin John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin ( pl, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, la, Universitas Catholica Lublinensis Ioannis Pauli II, abbreviation KUL), established in 1918. It is the only private college in Poland with the s ...

. Her first poems appeared in the journal ''Odrodzenie'' in 1944. Hartwig lived in Paris from 1947-50. In 1954, she published ''Z niedalekich podróży'' (''From Nearby Places''), a collection of articles. She published her first collection of poetry ''Pożegnania'' (''Farewells'') in 1956. She lived in the United States from 1970 to 1974, later returning to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

. During her time in America, Hartwig took part in the

International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted o ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

and also taught at several universities. She published translations of French poetry by

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of th ...

, Blaise Cendrars,

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic c ...

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim ...

, and

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual ap ...

and wrote books on Apollinaire and

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les Fi ...

. She also published translations of American poets such as

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ...

and

Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood, ...

. Hartwig's poetry has been translated into English, French, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Serbian, Greek and German. Hartwig was awarded the Jurzykowski Prize, the Thornton Wilder Prize from Columbia University's Translation Center and the Georg Trakl Poetry Prize. She received six nominations for the prestigious

Nike Award The Nike Literary Award ( pl, Nagroda Literacka „Nike") is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for ...

. She is the winner of the 2014 Wisława Szymborska Award for her book of poetry ''Zapisane''.

Personal life

In 1954, Hartwig married poet ; he died in 1996. She died on 14 July 2017 in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...

at the age of 95. She was the sister of the prominent photographer Edward Hartwig.

Selected works

Sources. * ''Wolne ręce'' (Free hands), poetry (1969) * ''Wielki pościg'' (The big race), children's book (1969) * ''Dwoistość'' (Duality), poetry (1971) * ''Czuwanie'' (Vigilance), poetry (1978) * ''Chwila postoju'' (A moment of rest), poetry (1980) * ''Obcowanie'' (Communion), poetry (1987) * ''Czułość'' (Tenderness), poetry (1992) * ''Bez pozegnania'' (No Farewells) (2004), nominated for a

Bibliography

Polish bibliography 1988–2001

References

External links

* Cynthia L. Haven
“Invisible You Reign Over the Visible”: Julia Hartwig’s Reality Mysticism,"
'World Literature Today'' article from 2011, republished in Milena Jesenská blog.
Kannada translations of 5 Julia Hartwig poems by S. Jayasrinivasa Rao at https://avadhimag.in
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartwig, Julia 1921 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Polish poets Writers from Lublin Polish translators Polish women poets International Writing Program alumni 20th-century Polish women writers 20th-century Polish writers Polish expatriates in the United States French–Polish translators English–Polish translators 20th-century translators