FERT Józef Franciszek

Born on 7 July 1945 in Korytnica on the Nida; son of the farmers Edward Fert and Franciszka, née Urbańska. From 1958 he attended the Minor Seminary of the Society of Christ Fathers for Poles Abroad (Niższe Seminarium Duchowne Towarzystwa Chrystusowego dla Wychodźców) in Świdnica. He made his debut in 1959 with a short story and poems published in the seminary's periodical "Zielona Trybuna", where he served as editor for a year. He then moved to the Grammar School in Busko Zdrój. He completed his advanced secondary education in 1964 and began a degree at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in Polish philology and theology, abandoning the latter subject after a year. As a student, he was actively involved in literary and cultural life. From December 1964 to June 1969 he was editor of the journal of the Circle of Polish Studies Students at KUL (Koło Polonistów Studentów KUL) "Polonista", where he also published numerous poems using the pen name Jan Welmart. He was involved in the KUL Academic theatre company from 1965 to 1969. In 1967 he started collaborating with the weekly "Za i Przeciw", where he published poems and reviews. He also wrote pieces of literary criticism for "Tygodnik Powszechny" and "Kamena", also publishing poems in the latter. In 1968/69, he worked as a typesetter and proofreader at KUL's publishing house Wydawnictwo Towarzystwa Naukowego KUL. He graduated with a master's degree in Polish philology from KUL in 1969. In late 1969 and early 1970, he was an instructor at the Christian Social Association (Chrześcijańskie Stowarzyszenie Społeczne) in Katowice. He moved to Włodawa in 1970 working at the local Grammar School (No. 1) until 1990. He was initially director of the boarding school before teaching Polish and an introduction to social science. During this period he also participated in Prof. Stefan Sawicki's doctoral seminar at KUL. His research largely focused on the work of the poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid . He published his findings in journals including "Zeszyty Naukowe KUL", "Pamiętnik Literacki", "Studia Norwidiana" and "Rocznik Humanistyczny". He was awarded a doctoral degree in 1978 by the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin for his dissertation Dyskurs Norwida z czytelnikiem (Norwid's Discourse with Readers), which was supervised by Prof. Maria Grzędzielska. He continued to write poetry. He was a member of the Lublin-based poetry group Signum from 1979. He became a member of the KUL Academic Society (Towarzystwo Naukowe) in 1980. He joined the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity the same year, co-founding the Chełm Voivodeship Citizens' Committee. He also founded the Council for Education in Włodawa, where in 1980/81 he edited the Solidarity trade union periodical "Wiadomości Tygodniowe" as well as the publication series Biblioteka Wiadomości Tygodniowych. Following the imposition of martial law on 13 December 1981 he was interned and held in prisons in Włodawa and Chełm until February 1982. He again became involved in opposition activities from 1983 and in 1988 helped establish Solidarity's underground structures. Throughout this time, he continued to conduct research. In 1983 he was appointed secretary of the editorial board of the new journal of the KUL Academic Society, "Studia Norwidiana", serving in the role until 2003. In 1985 he joined the editorial board working on Norwid's Dzieła wszystkie (Complete Works) . The same year he became a teaching assistant at KUL. In 1989 he moved to Lublin, initially working at the Inter-Faculty Centre for Research on the Works of Cyprian Norwid (Międzywydziałowy Zakład Badań nad Twórczością Cypriana Norwida) before joining the deparments of theology and Polish philology at KUL. That year he was made an Honorary Citizen of Włodawa, while in 1990 he became a member of the Society of Friends of KUL (Towarzystwo Przyjaciół KUL). In 1992 he joined the Association of Polish Writers (SPP), serving as chairman of the Lublin Section from 2002 to 2004. He collaborated with the quarterly "Akcent" from 1992, where he published numerous poems and reviews, while also serving on the editorial board from 1993 to 1999. (In 1994, he also signed reviews using the pen name J.F. Urbański). He also published articles and reviews in "Ethos" (1992-2000; he used the pen name Jacek Urbański for a report published in 1992). He was awarded a habilitation degree from KUL in 1993 for his study Poeta sumienia. Rzecz o twórczości Norwida (Poet of Conscience: On the works of Norwid). He was awarded grants to travel to Paris and Rome to conduct research on Romantic literature. From 1994 to 1996, he was a lecturer at the Chair of Contemporary Literature, while from 1995 to 1999 he was head of the Section (and later Institute) of Polish Philology at KUL. Between 1994 and 2000 he also collaborated with Radio Lublin, cohosting the programme Radiowe warsztaty literackie (Literary Workshops on the Radio) with Maria Brzezińska. Between 1995 and 2005 he was editor-in-chief "Roczniki Humanistyczne KUL". He is a three-time winner of the KUL Rector's Prize (1994, 2009 and 2010) and two-time winner of the Lublin Voivode's Prize (1995 and 2007). Between 1996 and 2015, he held the Chair of Textual Studies and Editing at KUL. Between 1998 and 2001, he was acting vice dean at the Faculty of Humanities at KUL and also served on its Senate. In 2002, he became director of the Centre for Research on the Works of Cyprian Norwid. From 2003, he served as deputy editor-in-chief of the journal "Studia Norwidiana". He was a member of the editorial boards of the following publication series Studia Norwidiana – Biblioteka, U Źródła and Pisma zebrane J. Czechowicza (J. Czechowicz's Collected Works). Between 2004 and 2012, he was acting pro-rector for teaching and education at KUL. In 2005 he became a member of the Lublin Scientific Society (Lubelskie Towarzystwo Naukowe). The same year he was appointed to the editorial board of "Zeszyty Naukowe KUL". In 2005 he was made state-appointed professor, while in 2006 he received the post of full professor at KUL. In 2007 he became deputy chair of the Norwid Foundation and was appointed chair in 2014. The aim of the Foundation is to support and develop research, publications and public activities relating to the works of Cyprian Norwid. From 2008 he edited the series Archiwum Edytorskie. He joined the editorial boards of Encyklopedia Katolicka (2009-14), the series Młoda Polonistyka (2011) and the journal "Ethos" (2011). He published reviews and poems in the journal "Lublin. Kultura i Społeczeństwo" (likewise using the pen name Jacek Brzozowski). In 2012 he was awarded the Literary Silver Laurel (Srebrny Wawrzyn Literacki) – the Prize of the Lublin Voivodeship awarded for achievements in the realm of the arts, and promoting and preserving culture. He was appointed to the jury of the J. Czechowicz Award (Ogólnopolski Konkurs im. J. Czechowicza) and from 2012 was chair of the jury of the Żeromski Prize in Small Literary Forms (Ogólnopolski Konkurs Małych Form Literackich im. S. Żeromskiego), organized by the Stefan Żeromski Museum in Nałęczów. In 2014, together with J. Święch he received the title Bene Meritus Terrae Lublinensi. He retired in 2015. The same year he became deputy chair of the Board of the Christian-Patriotic Association of the Włodawa Region (Stowarzyszenie Chrześcijańsko-Patriotyczne Ziemi Włodawskiej). He has received other awards and prizes including Meritorious Activist of Culture (1978), the Gold Cross of Merit (2004), the Committee of National Education Medal (2008), the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2013) and the Vatican Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (2014).

He married the teacher Krystyna Brzozowska in 1969. He lives in Lublin.