Hedwig Gorski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hedwig Gorski
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Gorski in Louisiana, 2009
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| Born | Hedwig Irene Gorski July 18, 1949 Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, poet |
| Literary movement | Performance Poetry, Avant-Garde Poets, Media Artists, Postmodernism |
| Notable awards | Fulbright Fellowship 2003 |
| Spouse | D'Jalma Garnier |
Hedwig Irene Gorski (born July 18, 1949) is an American performance poet and an avant-garde artist. She calls her unique style "American futurism." She is known for creating the term "performance poetry." This term describes a type of poetry that is meant to be spoken aloud, often with music. It was a step before what we now call slam poetry.
Hedwig Gorski is a first-generation Polish American. This means her parents came from Poland. She is a talented writer who creates poetry, stories, plays, and audio works. Her works are shared in many ways, using both traditional and new forms.
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About Hedwig Gorski
Hedwig Gorski was born in Trenton, New Jersey. Her parents and sister moved to the United States from Galicia, Poland (which is now part of Ukraine) after World War II. Her family faced difficult times during the war.
Her father joined the Polish Underground when he was only fourteen. Later, he joined the United States Army. Her family arrived in the U.S. in 1949 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After getting a degree in painting from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Canada, she moved to Austin, Texas in 1977. She is married to composer D'Jalma Garnier.
Her Creative Journey
Hedwig Gorski's public career started in New Orleans in 1973. She drew pictures for an independent newspaper called NOLA Express. She also sold the newspapers on the street. The writings from NOLA Express are now kept at the University of Connecticut. Gorski and writer Charles Bukowski were important contributors to this newspaper.
In New Orleans, she became friends with Delta blues musician Babe Stovall. She often spent time with him while he played music for people in Jackson Square.
Soon after moving to Austin, she started focusing on her poetry and theater work. She wrote and directed a short play called Booby, Mama!. This play used a special writing style she called "neo-verse drama." It was based on a "cut-up" writing method, where words and phrases are rearranged.
Her work is seen as having strong messages about fairness for different groups of people in the United States. Her poems often show a protest against people who are too comfortable and don't take action. She worked closely with other writers like Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Ricardo Sánchez, and raúlrsalinas. They often performed together at Resistencia Bookstore.
In 2008, Gorski spoke at a conference about how Polish Americans are similar to other "hyphenated" minority cultures in the U.S. She believes these groups, even if they are of European heritage, can be "invisible minorities." Gorski's writing supports all groups who face challenges in American society.
What is a Performance Poet?
Hedwig Gorski called herself a "performance poet" in the early 1980s. She used this term to describe her unique way of writing poetry. Her poems were created to be spoken aloud, often with music, rather than just read in a book.
She first used the term "performance poetry" in a press release in 1981. This term became very popular and was used by many other poets in the mid-1980s. Performance poetry is different from other types of spoken word, like slam poetry or simple poetry readings. It focuses on the combination of words and how they are presented.
A Writer for Everyone
Gorski believes that poets in American society have sometimes faced difficulties, including challenges to their freedom of speech. She saw that experimental artists and poets faced problems with government funding in the early 1990s.
She worked to share literature that was not part of the "mainstream." She also supported alternative and independent literature. She was one of the first writers for The Austin Chronicle newspaper in 1980. She started a column called Litera that talked about readings, books, and other important topics related to independent literature, especially poetry.
Her Work as a Scholar
After her career in performance poetry in the 1980s, Gorski went to graduate school. She earned a Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2001. In 2003–04, she taught about minority American literature at the University of Wrocław in Poland as a Fulbright Fellow. She also traveled to different places, including Ukraine. She even met Václav Havel, who was the president of the Czech Republic, backstage at a Bob Dylan concert in Prague.
Key Achievements
Hedwig Gorski created the term "Performance Poetry" in the early 1980s. She did this to show how her spoken poetry was different from other types of performance art. She was also one of the first writers for the Austin Chronicle. This newspaper helped promote Austin as a "music capital of the world." As the music scene grew, a diverse community of theater, literature, and art also developed in the 1970s. Gorski's work grew from this exciting environment.
Her live performances on KUT-FM radio were recorded and shared with radio stations around the world. These recordings became part of a network in the 1980s that offered alternatives to regular commercial music. Her literature-based audio recordings helped make performance poetry more popular.
Her band, East of Eden, was made up of professional jazz musicians. Their success came from how well the music and poetry blended together for live performances. Gorski's spoken words were described as being very close to singing, even though she wasn't actually singing. The music for each poem, written by D'Jalma Garnier, included styles like jazz, country and western, and rock and roll.
Her Unique Style
Unlike the Beats, Gorski wrote her poems specifically for performance with music. The music was composed by D'Jalma Garnier for each poem. Her poetry was mainly meant for audio listening, especially on the radio, not just for print.
Her background in art school influenced her love for performance text and how her work was shared. Even though she earned a degree in painting, she didn't like the exclusive feeling of art galleries. She put her love of images into her poetry. This poetry also included ideas from performance art and conceptual art. Gorski is considered one of the most notable graduates of her art school.
She was inspired by Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." She also admired Bob Dylan because of his "surreal images and hidden meanings in a language that rolled off the tongue." The passion in Dylan's vocals matched what she heard from Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet who first inspired her. Bob Dylan even attended Gorski's final performance in Austin in 1992.
Publications and Recordings
Hedwig Gorski's first collection of performance poems was called Snatches of the Visible Unreal. This was also the title of her first audio cassette recording. Another small book, Polish Gypsy with Ghost, came with a vinyl record. Her second audio cassette was titled East of Eden Band.
Her poems received music lyric awards, even though she didn't sing. She used her own success to help record and promote other vocal poets who were not part of traditional academic circles. These included raúlrsalinas, Roxy Gordon, and Joy Cole. Other print collections of her poetry were also released. A remastered CD of her radio recordings with East of Eden, called Send in the Clown, was released in 2009.
You can find archived and remastered recordings by Hedwig Gorski and East of Eden Band online. This includes a radio play she wrote and directed called Thirteen Donuts.
Awards and Recognition
Hedwig Gorski has received many awards for her work:
- 2011: Finalist in the National Poetry Series
- 2004: Southern Artistry Award
- 2003: Fulbright Scholar at University of Wroclaw, Poland
- 2002: Artist Fellowship in Audio Media, Louisiana Division of the Arts
- 2001: Robert and Bernice Webb Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching
- 2001: National Audio Theatre Festivals Script Writing Competition, for Thirteen Donuts
- 1994: Producer Fellowship from Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- 1990: Certificate for International Women's Day, honoring women authors
- 1987: Best Use of Language Judges Award for "Mexico Solo"
- 1986: Honorable Mention for "Glitter Streets"
Works
Audio recordings
- Hedwig Gorski Performance Poetry. CD. Original Broadcast on Liveset KUT-FM. Performed with East of Eden Band and D'Jalma Garnier. Austin, TX.
- 13 Donuts. CD. Original Broadcast Oct. 13, 2000 on KRVS-FM. Performed by Honors Players, U of Louisiana. Oct. 13, 2010.
- Send in the Clown. Selected Performance Poetry from Live Radio Broadcasts. CD 2009.
- East of Eden Band. KUT-FM Live Set. Recording and broadcast, University of Texas at Austin 1985.
- Snatches of the Visible Unreal. Duets by Hedwig Gorski and D'Jalma Garnier. Directed by Morgan Guidry, 1984.
Video recordings
- "Teenager in Nova Scotia." Video Illustrated Poetry. Producer PerfectoMedia 2010.
- "Rising Melodic Chords." Poem by Hedwig Gorski Deconstructed by Composer D'Jalma Garnier 2008.
Theater
- Thirteen Donuts. By Hedwig Gorski. Dir. William Davies. Perf. Honors Players. KRVS-FM Radio, Lafayette. LouisianaRadio.com. Oct. 13, 2000.
- Booby, Mama!. By Hedwig Gorski. Dir. Hedwig Gorski. Perf. Ex Troupe. InterArt Works, Austin. March–April 1977.
