embassy events 2009

Julia Hartwig, Distinguished Poet and Translator, Received U.S. Embassy’s Czeslaw Milosz Award

10 September 2009

2009 Czeslaw Milosz Award (more photos)

On the evening of September 9, 2009, U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe, hosted an award ceremony in honor of Julia Hartwig, a renowned poet, essayist, translator and author, who received the third annual Czesław Miłosz Award for Contributions to U.S-Polish Understanding.  “I have the distinct honor of presenting this award to the woman whom Czesław Miłosz himself called ‘the grand dame of Polish poetry,’” said Ambassador Ashe.  “Her own works as a poet received great international acclaim and her talent has made the work of such poets as William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, and Marianne Moore accessible to Polish speakers without diluting their intensity.” During the ceremony, Ms. Hartwig read three of her poems for the guests gathered in the audience. Julia Hartwig, a Warsaw resident, is the foremost living Polish translator of American poetry; her works have brought her experiences of living, working, and writing in the United States to Polish readers.  This year’s award, recognizing Ms. Hartwig’s extraordinary contribution to building a bridge between two profound poetic cultures, has special meaning in that Czesław Miłosz was Ms. Hartwig’s friend.

Ms. Hartwig, the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships in Poland, the United States, and abroad is the third recipient of the Czesław Milosz award.  Director Andrzej Wajda received the first award in 2007, and poet Adam Zagajewski received the award in 2008.  The award is named after Czesław Miłosz, the Polish author and co-founder of the literary group "Zagary."  During World War II, Miłosz worked in Warsaw for the underground press. He subsequently settled in France where he continued to write, winning the Prix Littéraire Européen in 1953. In 1960, at the invitation of the University of California, Miłosz moved to Berkeley where he was Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature until late in his life. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980.  In 2006, the U.S. Mission in Poland developed a series of three new awards to recognize leaders who are reshaping the political, economic and social topography of Poland and the world in ways harmonious with abiding U.S. values and interests.