Julia Hartwig

Julia Hartwig-Międzyrzecka (14 August 1921 – 14 July 2017) was a Polish writer, poet and translator, considered to be one of Poland's most important poets.

She was born and raised in Lublin.

She studied Polish and French literature at Warsaw University and continued her studies at the Catholic University of Lublin.

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.

In 1954, Hartwig married the poet and activist.

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.

During her time in America, Hartwig took part in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and also taught at several universities.

She published translations of French poetry by Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, Max Jacob, Henri Michaux, and Pierre Reverdy and wrote books on Apollinaire and Gérard de Nerval.

She also published translations of American poets such as Robert Bly and Marianne Moore.

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.

They had one daughter, Daniela, with whom they left for the US in 1971.

Artur Międzyrzecki died in 1996 in Warsaw.

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

Julia Hartwig died on 14 July 2017 in Pennsylvania at the age of 95.

Her brothers were prominent photographer Edward Hartwig and medical doctor and endocrynologist Walenty Hartwig.

Julia Hartwig is survived by her only daughter, Danielle Lehtinen, educator and artist, whom she often visited in New York City and in Pennsylvania.

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