A poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books, she was born in Lublin in 1921. She has been awarded numerous fellowships in France and the United States and has won the Jurzykowski Prize and the Thornton Wilder Prize from the Translation Center at Columbia University, as well as the Austrian Georg Trakl Prize for poetry. She lives in Warsaw. Despite having published only a few volumes of poetry, she occupies a prominent place in the Polish literary landscape. Resisting categorization, she holds a position all her own, removed from current fashions or snobbery.

One characteristic of her poetry is a dislike for overall views of the world or single emotional tonalities. In her subtle and refined works (which nevertheless have one thing in common: accessibility), there are often reconciled contradictions. Seriousness counterbalances irony and despair offsets the ecstatic joy of existence. She develops her verses onirically, with visions full of images juxtaposed with skillfully evoked concrete facts or semi-mystical illumination that shows the inner structure of visible reality. They also contain an intellectual maturity and a knowledge of the richness of the world we have been given, in all its dark and bright aspects and in its impossibility of reduction to a single formula, evaluation or program. She usually uses "calm," carefully-crafted forms, avoiding chaos and randomness. She is one of the few poets able in an accomplished way to exploit the poeme en prose. This certainly has something to do with her long association with French literature. Hartwig has translated Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Max Jacob, Cendrars and Supervielle, and published studies of Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval. She has also translated from English and published a large anthology of modern American poems, I Sing Modern Man, in 1992 (in collaboration with her late husband, the poet Artur Miedzyrzecki).

Contradiction is my element, the right for which I fight.
Julia Hartwig

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Poems and Poetic Prose:

• Pożegnania, Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1956.
• Wolne ręce, Warszawa: PIW, 1969.
• Dwoistość, Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1971.
• Czuwanie, Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1978.
• Dziennik amerykański, Warszawa: PIW, 1980.
• Chwila postoju, Kraków: WL, 1980.
• Obcowanie, Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1987.
• Czułość, Kraków: Znak, 1992.
• Nim opatrzy się zieleń, Kraków: Znak, 1995.
• Zobaczone, Kraków: a5, 1999.
• Przemija postać świata, Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka 1999.
• Zawsze od nowa, Warszawa: Twój styl, 1999.
• Nie ma odpowiedzi, Warszawa: Sic!, 2001.
• Błyski, Warszawa: Sic!, 2002.
• Wiersze amerykańskie, Warszawa: Sic!, 2002.
• Mówiąc nie tylko do siebie, Warszawa: Sic!, 2003.
• Bez pożegnania, Warszawa: Sic!, 2004.
• Zwierzenia i błyski, Warszawa: Sic!, 2004.
• W objęciach świata, Warszawa: Anagram, 2004.
• To wróci, Warszawa: Sic!, 2007.
• Poezje wybrane/Selected Poems, Kraków: WL, 2008
• Trzecie błyski, Warszawa: Sic!, 2008.
• Jasne niejasne, Kraków: a5, 2009.
• Wiersze wybrane, Kraków: a5, 2010.
• Gorzkie żale, Kraków: a5, 2011.
• Zapisane, Kraków: a5, 2013.

• Spojrzenie, Kraków: a5, 2016.

Essays/Journals/Reportages:

• Zawsze powroty – dzienniki podróży, Warszawa: Sic!, 2001.; wznow.: Warszawa: Sic!, 2005.
• Wybrańcy losu, Warszawa: Sic!, 2006.
• Podziękowanie za gościnę, Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria, 2007.
• Dziennik, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2011.
• Dziennik t.2, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2014.\
• Największe szczęście, największy ból. Jarosława Mikołajewskiego rozmowy z Julią Hartwig, Kraków: a5, 2014.

Studies:

• Apollinaire, Warszawa: PIW, 1962.
• Gerard de Nerval, Warszawa: PIW, 1972.

Books for Children:

• Jaś i Małgosia [współautor: A. Międzyrzecki], Warszawa 1961.
• Przygody Poziomki [współautor: A. Międzyrzecki], t. 1, 2, Warszawa: Nasza Księgarnia,1961, 1964.
• Tomcio Paluch [współautor: A. Międzyrzecki], Warszawa 1962.
• Wielki pościg [współautor: A. Międzyrzecki], Warszawa: Nasza Księgarnia, 1969.
• Zguba Michałka, Warszawa: Nasza Księgarnia, 1969.

TRANSLATIONS: 

Albanian:

• in the anthology: Fëmijët e epokes: antologji e poezisë polake sh. XX, trans. Mazllum Saneja, Varshavë: PAVO, 1997.

English:

• in the anthology: Polish poetry of the last two decades of communist rule: spoiling cannibal's fun, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1991.
• in the anthology: Polish writers on writing, San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2007.
• In Praise of the Unfinished, tłum. John i Bogdana Carpenter, USA: Knopf, 2008.
• It will return [To wróci], tłum. John i Bogdana Carpenter, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2012.

Bulgarian:

• in the anthology: Antologiâ na novata polska poeziâ, Sofiâ: Sv. K. Ohridski: Kasiopeâ, 2006.

Czech:

• Apollinaire, Odeon, 1966.

Finnish:

• in the anthology: Kadonnutta kahvilaa etsimässä, trans. Tapani Kärkkäinen, Helsinki: Otava, 2000.

French:

• Apollinaire, trans. Jean-Yves Erhel, Paris: Mercure de France, 1972.

Greek:

• in the anthology: Dō'deka Polōnídes poiī'tries, trans. Alkī' Tseléntī, Ateny: Dōdō'ni, 1996.

German:

• Und alles wird erinnert (selected poems), trans. Bernard Hartmann, Frankfurt: Verlag Neue Kritik, 2013.

Hungarian:

• Apollinaire, Gondat, 1968.
• in the anthology: Titkos szabadság, trans. Kerényi Grácia, Budapest: Európa, 1982.

Italian:

• in the anthology: Polki: la voce di undici poetessee polacche, trans. Irena Conti, Messina: Carboneditore, 1990.
• in the anthology: Incontri di poeti polacchi e italiani: liriche, Roma: Istituto Polacco di Roma, 2003.
• Sotto quest'isola, trans. Silvano De Fanti, Roma: Donzelli, 2007.

Macedonian:

• in the anthology: Sovremena polska poezija, trans. Petre Nakovski, Skopje: Makedonska Revija, 1996.

Russian:

• Apollinaire, Moskwa: Progress, 1971.
• in the anthology: Polskie poèty XX veka: antologija, Sankt-Peterburg: Aletejja, 2000.
• in the anthology: Polskie poètessy: antologija, trans. Natalja Astafeva, Sankt-Peterburg: Aletejja, 2002. 

Serbian:

• in the anthology: Pet vekova poljske poezije: antologija, tłum. Aco Rakočevic, Ljuljana Novakovic, Priština: Jedinstvo Gornji Milanovac: Dečje Novine, 1991.
• Zobaczone, trans. Biserka Rajcic, Belgrad: Knijzevna Opstina Vrsac, 2009.

Spanish:

• in the anthology: Poesia polaca: antologia, La Habana: Arte y Literatura, 1984.

Swedish:

• in the anthology: Jag i första och sista person: 20 polska kvinnliga poeter, Stockholm: Tranan, 2008. 

Ukrainian:

• Tomu ŝo voni suŝcì: antologìâ sučasnoï pol's'koï poezìï, Lwów: Kamenjar, 2005.