MIŁOSZ AT 90 Poland's Poet Laureate 8 July 2001 On Czesław Miłosz's 90th birthday June 30,workers from Wydawnictwo Literackie publishing house organized an event called We Love Czesław Miłosz in front of his apartment building.    Embraced by Cracow:   Czesław Miłosz A loud Ukrainian band playing lively melodies and children dressed in folk costumes holding bunches of wild flowers for Miłosz gathered under the poet's balcony in the morning. First Miłosz's wife Carol and then a surprised Miłosz appeared on the balcony. During a short meeting in his apartment, wearing a fresh flower wreath, Miłosz received his presents-a chocolate cake, a framed poster of the book Miłosz's A-B-Cs, a bottle of Dzięgielówka vodka, a wreath and a rose bush. Miłosz's wife received a wreath with the inscription "For The Poet's Muse" in English and Polish. Miłosz seemed pleasantly surprised by the gathering. "Wishing me happiness is, well yes, a very reasonable wish," he responded to the children's best wishes. The celebrations of the poet's 90th birthday lasted all weekend in Cracow, taking place on Szewska Street, just off the Main Market Square. Several happenings and competitions were accompanied by a fair featuring books and volumes of poetry by Miłosz. In the evening, representatives of the municipal authorities and the inhabitants of Cracow publicly wished the poet a very happy birthday. Later Judyta Papp's This is Miłosz exhibit of photography opened at the Wielopolski Palace, the seat of the Cracow City Office, followed by an auction of photos signed by the poet. A concert dedicated to Miłosz took place in the courtyard of Radio Kraków July 1 at 11 a.m. Miłosz divides his time between Cracow and Berkeley, California in the United States. As he said a few days before his birthday, he would like to settle permanently in Poland, because he "has gradually submerged himself in Cracow" and today he is "almost a genuine Cracovian." Miłosz won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980 and is one of the most eminent contemporary poets and essayists in Poland. Miłosz was born June 30, 1911 in Szetejnie, Lithuania. He spent his youth in Vilnius. During his law studies at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius he created a poets' group called Żagary. He published his first volume of poetry, A Poem In Frozen Time, in 1933. His Anthology of Social Poetry was released the same year. At the time Miłosz was working for Polish Radio's Vilnius station. Before World War II, he also published Three Winters. His war poems were published in 1945, in Salvation. During the German occupation, Miłosz participated in Warsaw's underground cultural life, even publishing a volume of poetry called Invincible Song. In 1945-1949, Miłosz worked in the diplomatic corps in the United States and then in Paris. In 1951, he applied for asylum in the West, provoking attacks on him by writers in Poland and abroad. The latter criticized Miłosz for cooperating with the communist government. Miłosz survived this difficult time in his life by cooperating with the Paris-based Kultura periodical. At the time he published The Captive Mind, The Seizure Of Power, Issa Valley, Native Realm and A Treatise On Poetry. In 1960 Miłosz moved to the United States, where he became a professor at Berkeley University's department of Slavic literature. He published the volumes of poetry Król Popiel i inne wiersze (King Popiel and other Verses) (1962), Gucio zaczarowany (Enchanted Gucio) (1965), Miasto bez imienia (A City Without a Name) (1969), collections of essays and sketches Visions From San Francisco Bay (1969), The Land Of Ulro (1977) and Ogród Nauk (The Garden of Learning) (1978). Throughout this period, Miłosz mainly published his work in Paris and the United States. Initially he specialized in writing essays, but he gradually became a well-known poet. His fame was confirmed by the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and crowned by the Nobel Prize. In Poland, his works were largely absent from the official press, only published occasionally in collective anthologies. Only following his Nobel Prize were Miłosz's poems officially published-and only then was he allowed to return to Poland. Iwona A. Czerwińska

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