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Maria Jastrzębska

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Maria Jastrzębska
Maria Jastrzebska
Maria Jastrzebska
Born28 March 1953
Warsaw, Poland
OccupationPoet and teacher
NationalityPolish-British

Maria Jastrzębska (born 28 March 1953) is a Polish-British poet, feminist, editor, translator and playwright. She has published five full-length volumes of poetry, two pamphlets and a play. She regularly contributes to a wide range of national and international journals and anthologies.[1]

Early life and education

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Maria Jastrzębska was born in Warsaw and moved to the United Kingdom as a young child. She went to Ealing Grammar School for Girls, and the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, both in London. She later studied Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex.[2]

She has taught communication in further education and also creative writing in adult education.[3]

Literary career

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Jastrzębska has been writing since she was very young; her first book, created before she could write, was entitled My Book and was filled with squiggles. As a young adult, she began contributing to a range of feminist journals, including Spare Rib, Writing Women and Spinster.[4]

She continues to engage in community projects, literary festivals and residencies.[5][6][7]

Personal life

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She lives with her partner in Brighton.

Works and themes

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Jastrzębska's fourth full-length collection The True Story of Cowboy Hat and Ingénue was published by Cinnamon Press[8] A review by David Caddy in Tears in the Fence said of this collection "The range of voices and languages, the various narratives all succinctly described, are all impressive and produce an exhilarating read".[9] Of Cedry z Walpole Park, Eliza Szybowicz writes "This poet’s coat of arms has a wolf on it. Her language sniffs out, tracks, rips flesh, fights, sometimes chooses escape, parties madly, desires. Don’t you wish you were in her pack!". Her fifth full-length collection Small Odysseys was published by Waterloo Press in October 2022.[10]

She is the co-founder of Queer Writing South and South Pole[11] and co-edited Queer in Brighton (New Writing South 2014) with Anthony Luvera. Her poetry features in the British Library project Poetry Between Two Worlds[12] and her drama Dementia Diaries[13][14][15] which toured nationally to sell-out audiences was described as "like a piece of chamber music, and transcends ... the literalness of language".[16]

She has also worked with two other Polish-connected artists, fine artist Dagmara Rudkin and composer Peter Copley along with director Mark H Hewitt and artist Wendy Pye to collaborate on a project inspired by The Snow Queen story by Hans Christian Andersen. Following research and development grants from the Arts Council England they worked together to produce a multi-media installation in the Regency Town House, Brighton,[17] the production then toured with five performances in Portsmouth, Lewes, Birmingham and Lambeth, London. Jastrzębska’s poems were written in the voices of Crow, a multilingual, timeless trickster, migrant and crone, and Gerda and Kai two young, non-binary identifying young people. The poems include ‘Ponglish’  – a hybrid language of Polish and English.[18] A triptych of filmpoems of Maria Jastrzębska’s work was made by Wendy Pye and screened internationally.[19]

Jastrzębska's work focuses on borders and boundaries: between countries, cultures and languages,[2] between social and sexual identities, health and illness. Her experience of arriving in the UK from Poland as a child, with having to adapt to a different language, culture and society, has informed all her written work. Poet and fellow ‘exile’ George Szirtes says her "poems open out like adventures in a dual land that is both here and elsewhere".[2]

Publications

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Full-length collections

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  • Syrena (2004), Redbeck Press, ISBN 978-8373893054
  • Everyday Angels, Waterloo Press, (2009) ISBN 978-1906742102
  • At the Library of Memories, Waterloo Press, (2014) ISBN 978-1-906742-57-7
  • The True Story of Cowboy Hat and Ingénue, Cinnamon Press, (2018) ISBN 978-1-911540-03-8
  • Small Odysseys, Waterloo Press, (October 2022) ISBN 978-1-915241-05-4

Pamphlets

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Plays

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  • Dementia Diaries (2011)[20]

Anthologies

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Collaborations

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  • Postcards from Poland and Other Correspondences (1990) with artist Jola Scicińska ISBN 978-1870736060
  • Snow Q cross-arts project and installation at Regency Town House (2018)
  • Snow Q live literature performances (2020)
  • Snow Q filmpoems with Wendy Pye: Crow, Have You Seen Kai, Lullaby (2020)

Translated works

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Translations

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Edited works

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References

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  1. ^ "Maria Jastrzębska". Waterloo Press. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Maria Jastrzębska (poet) – United Kingdom – Poetry International". poetryinternationalweb.net. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Maria Jastrzębska Biography". Poetry pf. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Maria Jastrzębska: Przechadzki po różnych wszechświatach [wywiad] | Artykuł | Culture.pl". Culture.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. ^ "GROUNDation Poetry Project". Safe Ground. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Love in a cold climate". The Coast is Queer. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  7. ^ "The golden boat". Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  8. ^ "The True Story of Cowboy Hat & Ingénue". Cinnamon Press. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  9. ^ "The True Story of Cowboy Hat and Ingénue". Tears in the Fence. 71. Spring 2020.
  10. ^ "London Grip Poetry Review – Maria Jastrzebska". London Grip. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Art with a Polish connection". South Pole. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Between Two Worlds: Poetry & Translation". British Library Sounds.
  13. ^ "Dementia Diaries". Lewes Live Lit. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Dementia Diaries". Poetry International Archives. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Dementia Drama". The Guardian. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Dementia Diaries". Disability Arts Online. 27 October 2011.
  17. ^ "Snow Q Project at the Regency Town House". Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Snow Q: Parley-vous Ponglish?". European Literature Network. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Ó Bhéal's 8th International Poetry-Film Competition". Obheal. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Dementia Diaries – BSMS". bsms.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
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