BENKA Urszula Małgorzata

Born on 30 December 1953 in Wrocław; daughter of the economists Edmund Bronisław Benka and Józefa, née Próchniak. She attended the S. Konarski Grammar School (No. 11) in Wrocław, completing her advanced secondary education in 1973. She then studied psychology for two years at the University of Wrocław (UWr) until ill-health forced her to quit her degree. She made her debut with the poems Zwierzenia kurtyzany (Confessions of a courtesan) and Gorączka (Fever). They appeared in the student journal "Sigma" (1974/75, no. 6), where she continued to publish her works (including some under the pen name Krasińska). She went on to win many awards and poetry competitions. In 1976 she started a degree in Polish studies at UWr and graduated with a master's degree in 1981. During this period she was associated with the Nowa Prywatność (New Privacy) group of poets. From 1979 until its dissolution in 1983 she was a member of the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP – Związek Literatów Polskich). During this period, her poems, short stories, reviews and essays appeared in periodicals including "Literatura" (1975 and intermittently between 1980 and 1988), "Nowy Wyraz" (1975–79 and 1981), "Odra" (1975–83 and 1986–88), "Konfrontacje" (1976–79) and "Kontakty" (1984–87). In 1983, she went to France for a four-month literary residency, while in 1984 she received a fellowship from the European Organization of Independent Intellectuals. She subsequently remained in Paris, earning a living by doing various jobs, including caring for elderly people. During this period she started collaborating with Polish émigré periodicals, including "Zeszyty Literackie" (1984–85). In 1987 she left for the United States where she collaborated with the New York-based "Kurier" and "Nowy Dziennik”. She became a member of the US PEN Club. In 1991/92 she published the regular column Listy z Nowego Jorku (Letters from New York) in "Akcent". She returned to Poland in 1991 and initially settled in Katowice, where between 1992 and 1994 she was involved in the activities of husband's (Andrzej Urbanowicz's) theatre company Oneiron 2. In 1991 she became a member of the Association of Polish Writers (SPP – Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich). In 1992 she defended her doctoral thesis titled Charyzma władania, święty mord. Analiza symboliki i semantyki mitycznej w twórczości Henryka Sienkiewicza (The charisma of power and holy murders: An analysis of mythical symbolism and semantics in the works of Henryk Sienkiewicz) at UWr. In 1994, she moved to Wrocław. During this period she continued to publish poems, prose and articles, likewise on visual art, in "Akcent" (intermittently between 1993 and 1996, 2003 and 2004, and 2009 and 2014), "Odra" (1995, 2005, and intermittently between 2014 and 2018) "Akant" (1996 and 2001–05), "Format" (1996–97 and intermittently between 1999 and 2005), "Literatura" (1997–98) and "Pomosty" (intermittently between 1997–2005 and in 2014-15). Between 1995 and 2000 she was an editor at the publishing house of the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts (Wydawnictwo Akademii Sztuk Pięknych) in Wrocław, while between in 1996/97 she also edited a literary supplement "Format Literacki" of the Academy's journal "Format". In 2000 the Saxon Ministry of Science and Culture awarded her a fellowship for a residency at Schloss Wiepersdorf literary institute. Between 2003 and 2012 she was a lecturer at AFA School of Photography in Wrocław (Wyższe Studium Fotografii Afa). In 2005 she received a fellowship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2005/06 she led a seminar at the Department of Cultural Studies at UWr. During this period, her works appeared in periodicals including "Strona" (2009) and "Rita Baum" (2011–13), while she also served as co-editor of the journal "Metafora". In 2012/13 she lectured on cultural heritage in the Department of Education at the University of Zielona Góra.
In 1986 she married the painter, graphic designer and performer Andrzej Urbanowicz in Paris. They have a daughter, Gwendolina (b. 1988). She lives in Wroclaw.