Conferences

Sunday, February 10, at 11.00, at the NTB's Small Hall, Dan Lungu will hold a conference on the theme About the "communist biddies' " nostalgia and other demons. Ticket price: 16 lei.

About the Conference

"I do not know if I'm a communist biddy! is my best book, but it certainly had the largest impact from everything I wrote. At no moment did I imagine the fate these lines would have, writing meticulously in my small room from rue Ribera, at the Romanian Greek-Catholic Mission in Paris, where I wrote most of the book. I don't want to talk at this conference about the unpredictable literary success of the novel. Rather, I would tell you about how I began to understand the past, exploring "the communist biddies'" nostalgia and its roots, as well as how working on this book and the European journey undertaken to write it have changed my way of thinking and my literary career. Finally, I would like to relate how men and women, Romanian or foreign, reacted when they bumped into my "communist biddy", as shown by the hundreds of messages received in the last years or the talks with them.

It is certain that the "communist biddies'" nostalgia hit much farther than it seems at first glance. How far? Come to NTB and we'll talk! "

About Dan Lungu

Born in 1969 in Botosani, lecturer at the Department of Sociology, the "Al. I. Cuza" University from Iași. He is one of the most appreciated and most translated writers of the new generation, his books being published in ten languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Greek and Turkish. He did postdoctoral studies in sociology at the Sorbonne and was editor of the magazine Au Sud de l'Est (Paris). In 1996 he initiated in Iași the literary group Club 8. In 2001 and 2002 he was the editor-in-chief of the cultural magazine Timpul. In 2005 he is one of the Romanian writers invited to "Les belles étrangères", France. At Polirom he published two volumes of short stories, Boys in a gang (2005) and Retail Prose (Second Edition, 2008) and the novels I am a communist biddy! (First edition, 2007, second edition, 2010, third edition, 2011; the book had a film adaptation directed by Stere Gulea, having as protagonists Luminița Gheorghiu, Marian Râlea and Ana Ularu, its French version was nominated twice for the Jean Monnet European Prices, France, 2008), How to forget a woman (first edition, 2009, second edition, 2010, third edition, 2011) and All light bulbs are burned in Hell (2011). Also for Polirom he coordinated, with Radu Pavel Gheo, the collective volume Female Comrades on the Road. The Feminine experience in Communism (2008), and with Lucian Dan Teodorovici - Revolution Street no. 89 (2009). His plays Knife to the bone (Green Hours, Monday Theatre, 2002), Wedding at the ground floor (a reading-show at the Odeon Theatre, 2003; a reading-show at the Luceafărul Theater, Iași, 2006, within the DramatIS Project) and  A greedy witch (a children's play, the Luceafărul  Theater, Iași, 2008) were staged. The play Happy birthday!, This is what one should say, right? was one of the winners of the new texts Grant at Dramafest, the 2008 edition. He is awarded with the Prize of the Junimea Society for his literary activity for 1993, the Nemira Publishing House's Award for short stories (1997), the USR Award, the Dobrogea branch, for his debut in prose (1999), the Goethe Zentrum Award for promoting originality, representing Club 8 (2001 ), the USR Award, the Iași Branch, for prose (2005), the Iași Municipality Town Hall's "Vasile Pogor" Prize for his literary activity(2007), Cultural Personality of the Year (2009), the USR Award, the Iași Branch, for fiction (2010), the Young Writer's Colloquy Prize for prose (Alba Iulia, 2011). In 2011 the French government awarded him the title of "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" for his contributions to the enrichment of the French cultural heritage. He is a member of the Writers' Union of Romania.

Data taken from www.polirom.ro

Photo Matei Bejenaru

Translated by: Izabella Feher