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

Life and career

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. She published her first collection of poetry Pożegnania (Farewells) in 1956.

She lived in the United States from 1970-74, 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.

Personal life

In 1954, Hartwig married poet Artur Międzyrzecki; he died in 1996. She died on 14 July 2017 in Pennsylvania at the age of 95.

Selected works

• 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 Nike Award