Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D., is a Polish-Canadian-American poet, music historian, photographer, and non-profit director born in Poland and living in California (www.trochimczyk.net). She published five collections of poems: Rose Always and Miriam’s Iris (Moonrise Press, 2008), Slicing the Bread (Finishing Line Press, 2014), The Rainy Bread and Into Light (Moonrise Press, 2016). She also edited three anthologies of poetry. Chopin with Cherries and Meditations on Divine Names offer “rich poetic material selected and collected with great sensitivity” (Prof. Grażyna Kozaczka, Polish Review, 2014). Her most recent poetry volume is an anthology of Westside Women Writers, Grateful Conversations, co-edited with Kathi Stafford in 2018.
Hundreds of Trochimczyk’s articles and poems appeared in English, Polish, as well as in German, French, Chinese, Spanish and Serbian translations. The venues for her poetry have included: The Loch Raven Review, Epiphany Magazine, Lily Review, Ekphrasis Journal, Quill and Parchment, Magnapoets, SGVGPQ, Pirene's Fountain, Cosmopolitan Review, The Scream Online, The Original Van Gogh’s Ear Anthology, Clockwise Cat, Lummox Journal, Phantom Seed, Colorado Boulevard, Spectrum, Poezja Dzisiaj, OccuPoetry, as well as many anthologies issued by Poets on Site, and others, such as Silver Birch Press, or Glass Lyre Press.
As a music historian, Trochimczyk published seven books on music (After Chopin, The Music of Louis Andriessen, Polish Dance in Southern California, A Romantic Century in Polish Music, Frederic Chopin: A Research and Information Guide, Lutoslawski: Music and Legacy, and Gorecki in Context: Essays on Music), 26 book chapters in edited volumes on such topics as: Chopin (Indiana UP), Lutoslawski (Oxford UP), women composers, Polish music after 1945, emigres, ecomusicology, and more. She wrote 27 peer-reviewed articles for professional journals: Musical Quarterly, Computer Music Journal, Leonardo, American Music, the Polish Review, and Muzyka. She also presented papers at over 80 national and international conferences in Poland, France, Germany, Hungary, U.K., Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
The Sixth Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga (2010-2012), she currently serves as Acting President of the California State Poetry Society, and Program Chair for Village Poets. Dr. Trochimczyk taught music history at McGill University and at USC. She received awards and fellowships from ACLS, SSHRCC, USC, McGill University, MPE Fraternity, Polish American Historical Association (Swastek Prize, 2007, Distinguished Service Award, 2014 and Creative Arts Prize, 2016), City and County of Los Angeles, and Poland’s Ministry of Culture (Medal for the Promotion of Polish Culture). She is a member of Westside Women Writers, and Village Poets, as well as a Secretary and Communications Director of the Polish American Historical Association and President of Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club in Los Angeles (2018-2020).
