Conferences

Video-streaming

Within the framework of the National Theatre Conferences, on Sunday, 20 November 2016, 11.00 a.m., the Painting Hall shall exceptionally host an encounter with writer Ana Blandiana. The unmistakable voice of the poet, known both from the lecture of her own verses, and from the balcony of the University Square, shall resonate in a free talk about the power of writing, moderated by Ion Caramitru. Alongside Ana Blandiana, other three young actresses of the National Theatre of Bucharest shall recite from her oeuvre: Florentina Țilea, Fulvia Folosea and Alexandra Sălceanu.

Authoress of countless books of poetry, prose and memoirs translated into 24 languages of the world, but also of numerous press articles, Ana Blandiana is the holder, among many other distinctions, of the Herder Prize, of the Romanian Academy Award, but also of the Legion of Honour granted by the French state for her outstanding writing and civic merits.

About Ana Blandiana

Originating from Timişoara, Ana Blandiana was born in 1942. Her name at birth was Otilia Valeria Coman, and after the marriage to writer Romulus Rusan it became Otilia Valeria Rusan. The close ones call her Doina, but the "nickname" which brought her fame is the pseudonym Ana Blandiana. (The poet composed it by taking over the melodic name of the village - Blandiana, from Alba County – where her mother was born and deriving a first name from it as well.)

After attending the courses of the Faculty of Philology of the Cluj University (1962-1967), Ana Blandiana settles down in Bucharest, where she works as an editor at the Student Life and Amphitheatre (1968-1974), librarian at the "N. Grigorescu" Institute of Bucharest (1975-1977), editor at the Writers’ Guild (1977-1979).

Before even being a student, she celebrates her debut with the poem Originality in the Tribune magazine of Cluj (1959). From 1960-1963, she is forbidden to publish, due to political reasons. Starting with 1964, her signature may be encountered again in the literary press, especially in The Contemporary, where she is entrusted with a weekly column of notations (Antijournal). Still in 1964, she publishes her first book of verse, First Person Plural, drawing the attention of the literary critics. Thus, when she settles in Bucharest, she is no longer a stranger. In 1969, she receives moreover the Poetry Prize of the Writers’ Guild (the first from a long list of prizes: the Poetry Prize of the Romanian Academy, 1970, Bucharest, the Prose Award of the Writers’ Guild of Bucharest, the International Herder Prize, Vienna, 1982, the "Opera omnia" Prize, 1994, the National Poetry Prize, 1997, the Poetry Prize of the Writers’ Guild, 2000 etc.).

The poetry books published every two-three years (which are translated abroad), the countless literary criticism articles dedicated to her, the publishing activity (her column Atlas from Literary Romania becomes a weekly event), the journeys abroad (starting with the 6-month scholarship to the USA in 1973-1974), the certainty with which she makes her prose debut (The Four Seasons, 1977) confer to Ana Blandiana an unusual prestige.

Disobediant as a responsible character, not as a recalcitrant, Ana Blandiana reads at her encounters with the audience at the height of Ceauşescu’s dictatorship poems-manifestos thrilling the audience: "It shall come,/ It cannot be otherwise,/ It shall come/ That day/ Adjourned for centuries,/ It shall come/ It draws near,/ It can also be heard/ Its pulse beating/ Between the horizons,/ It shall come,/ It can be felt in the air,/ it can no longer be late,/ Do not doubt, it shall come/ That day/ Blinding as a sword/ Vibrating in the light." (Dies ille, dies irae). In 1985, a series of her poems charged with political dynamite, published in the Amphitheatre magazine, alarms the authorities. And in 1988, after she publishes the verse volume Occurrences on My Street, with numerous sarcastic references to the regime, she is forbidden, as a punishment, to publish in Romania.

The wave of the revolution from December 1989 brings her to the heterogeneous leading team of the country, the National Council of the National Salvation Front. Earlier than other intellectuals, Ana Blandiana leaves the group. She sets up and leads the Civic Alliance Foundation, to which a great part of the Romanian civil society adheres, creates in Sighet, with superhuman efforts and sacrifices, joined by her husband, Romulus Rusan, the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance, and leads the Romanian PEN Club. She plays a key role in imposing politician Emil Constantinescu as Romanian President in the time frame 1996-2000, but she does not hesitate to criticise his lack of firmness in promoting democratic values.

Biography by Alex Ștefănescu

Translated by Simona Nichiteanu