Hedwig Gorski

Hedwig Gorski
Poet Hedwig Gorski, 2009, Louisiana.
Born	Hedwig Irene Gorski (1949-07-18) July 18, 1949 (age 67) Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, poet
Literary movement	Performance Poetry, Avant-Garde Poets, Media Artists, Postmodernism
Notable awards	Fulbright Fellowship 2003

Hedwig Gorski (born July 18, 1949) is an American performance poet and an avant-garde artist who labels her aesthetic as "American futurism." The term "performance poetry," a precursor to slam poetry, is attributed to her. It originated in press releases for experimental spoken word and conceptual theater Gorski created during 1979. She is a first-generation Polish American academic scholar and accomplished creative writer. The innovative poetry, prose, drama, and audio works are published and produced in a variety of media using standard and experimental forms.

A first-generation American citizen, born in Trenton, New Jersey, Gorski's parents and sister emigrated to the United States from Galicia, Poland (present-day Ukraine) following World War II, where two aunts and a grandmother were murdered by Ukrainian partisans.

Her father joined the Polish Underground at age fourteen, and later the United States Army, arriving with his family in the U.S. in 1949 on the General Sturgis, which docked in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father did electrical work in Napoleonville before moving to New Jersey. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Canada, she moved with her first husband to Austin, Texas in 1977. She is married to her second husband, composer D'Jalma Garnier.