Hedwig Irene Gorski

 

 

 

After receiving a BFA in painting from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Canada, Hedwig Irene Gorski began an innovative career as an award-winning performance poet in the 1980s working as a writer/vocalist with East of Eden Band and producing literary audio projects for international radio distribution. She co-founded and named Voltaire’s Basement in Austin, a venue to originate experimental performances and literary events that often traveled to larger stages. Her radio drama script, Thirteen Donuts, received a 2001 award form National Audio Theatre and was published in their annual scriptbook. The production was broadcast on KRVS-FM and simulcast on Louisianaradio.com in 2000 and featured during the UL Lafayette English department’s Deep South Festival of Writers. She received a Louisiana Division of the Arts Audio Media fellowship in 2002. Her 2001 doctorate degree culminated a process that helped her develop her teaching abilities, for which she received the Robert and Bernice Webb Award in graduate teaching, as well as moving her writing interests into screenwriting and fiction.

 

 

You enter a mythology full of cultural intrigue at UL Lafayette in Acadiana, one that facilitates participation but—let me advise you—is extremely difficult to leave. The stage of Creole/Cajun culture is an all-encompassing set, lit also within the undergraduate students you teach; and has a fog-like effect that lends itself toward introspection, so valuable for intellectuals and creative minds. When the bayou dampness lifts, you clearly envision a magnificent landscape of present and future that far surpasses what could have been imagined in your past; and, are surrounded by healthy attitudes with vivid impressions of your own mind and ideas. The creative writing faculty encourage your development without dishonest vagaries about your work and with pin-point instructions to eliminate chaff. Surrounding your inner creative and academic activities, a sometimes gaudy circus of international carnival, world music, Zydeco dance, and mysterious food swirls non-stop on the occasions you choose not to retreat into the active silence of your computer. Finally, there is the smooth landscape of muddy water and filtered sun, a healthy verdant green of croaking frogs and meteor showers on humid nights. No one succeeds alone.

 

 

 

 

 

An Excerpt from Hedwig Gorski’s Writing

See Hedwig's CV

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© 2001, University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
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To contact us by mail: Director of Creative Writing, English Department, Box 44691, UL-Lafayette, Lafayette LA 70504-4691; by telephone, 337-482-5478;
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Last updated: May 1, 2001.