GOERKE Natasza

Born on 13 March 1960 in Poznan; daughter of Tadeusz Goerke and Hanna, née Murawska. She attended the H. Modrzejewska Grammar School (No. 2) in Poznan, where she completed her advanced secondary education in 1979. After failing to be accepted to the Theatre Studies Department at the State Theatre School (PWST) in Warsaw, she studied Polish philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM) in Poznan. In 1983 she moved to Krakow where she furthered her interest in Sanskrit and Hindi by taking a degree in Oriental philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ). In 1984 she left for Denmark, living in Copenhagen for several months, earning a living through casual employment, including selling synthetic jewellery and working as an assistant at a confectioner's. She moved to Germany in 1985, resuming her Oriental studies degree in Hamburg. She also worked as a waitress at a Pakistani restaurant, baked cakes to order, and cared for the elderly. Between 1991 and 1995 she was employed at the Hamburg-based publishers Bauer Verlag where she was responsible for writing horoscopes and editing the lonely hearts pages and gardening sections in its magazines. She made her debut in 1991 in the Krakow-based periodical "bruLion" with a short prose piece, Skłonność. (List do misia w Skierniewicach) (Tendency – A Letter to a Bear in Skierniewice; no. 16), and then with short poems Haiku z Mönkebergstraβe (Haiku from Mönkebergstraße), Telewizja (Television) and Myślane w sanskrycie: Wielki Bojownik (Thinking in Sanskrit: The Great Warrior) in issues 17/18. She continued publishing in "bruLion" until 1996. She also published short prose pieces in "Przegląd Polski", the weekly supplement of the New York-based newspaper "Nowy Dziennik", and in many other publications. In 1992, she received an award in the short story prize of the periodical "Czas Kultury". She published her works in this Poznan-based biweekly until 1996 (and then sporadically between 1998 and 2006). Her writing also appeared in "Odra" (1992-93), the "List Oceaniczny" supplement of the Toronto-based "Gazeta" (1993), "NaGłos" (1994-95), "Przedproża" (1994) and "Twórczość" (1995, and intermittently between 2005 and 2008). She stopped working for Bauer Verlag in 1995 and took up a six-month fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude near Stuttgart. She then received further fellowships funded by various institutions that took her to Bettina von Arnim's manor house at Wiepersdorf Castle in 2001 and to Villa Hellebosch in Belgium in 2002. She participated in many readings and book signings in Poland and abroad, including events in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, the UK and USA. She went on longer trips to India, Tibet and Nepal, while in 2006 she bought a house in the Kathmandu Valley where she spends several months each year. Since 2008 she has participated in the International Short Story Festival (Międzynarodowy Festiwal Opowiadania) in Wroclaw where she has run workshops in creative writing, among other things. Since 2011 she has also been involved in workshops organized by the Czarne publishing house in Wolowiec. In 2012 she started publishing pieces in "Wysokie Obcasy", the women-focused Saturday supplement of the daily "Gazeta Wyborcza", as well as in the periodicals "Bluszcz", "Chimera" and "Kontynenty". She lives in Hamburg.