Women writers dominate the literature written by Romanians in North America. Our literary series, turning the spotlight on this phenomenal wave of creativity, organized in partnership with Denver-based Bucharest Inside the Beltway, brings together the largest group of Romanian-American and Romanian-Canadian women writers we have ever assembled in cyberspace. The program, co-curated with author and academic Cristina A. Bejan, offers a series of readings full of passion, truth and skill to match a time of tumult and reinvention.
The seventh episode features poet and academic Lucia Cherciu and poet and editor Alina Ștefănescu.
LUCIA CHERCIU received her Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2000 with a dissertation on women and laughter. She is a Professor of English at SUNY / Dutchess and the author of five books of poetry: Train Ride to Bucharest (Sheep Meadow Press, 2017), which received the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize, Edible Flowers (Main Street Rag, 2016), Lalele din Paradis / Tulips in Paradise (Editura Eikon, 2017), Altoiul Râsului / Grafted Laughter (Editura Brumar, 2010), and Lepădarea de Limbă / The Abandonment of Language (Editura Vinea, 2009). Her poetry was nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net. Her work appeared in Connecticut Review, Connotation Press, Cortland Review, ISLE, Paterson Literary Review, and in many Romanian literary magazines, such as Timpul, Hyperion, Contrapunct, and Astra.
ALINA ȘTEFĂNESCU was born in Romania and lives in Birmingham, Alabama. A finalist for the 2019 Kurt Brown AWP Prize, the 2019 Greg Grummer Poetry Prize, the 2019 Frank McCourt Prize, and the 2019 Streetlight Magazine Poetry Contest, Alina won the 2019 River Heron Poetry Prize. Her first poetry chapbook, Objects in Vases (Anchor & Plume Press, 2016) won the 2016 Award for Poetry Book of the Year from ASPS (The Alabama State Poetry Society). Her debut fiction collection, Every Mask I Tried On, won the Brighthorse Prize and was published in May 2018. Her writing can be found in journals, including Prairie Schooner, North American Review, FLOCK, Southern Humanities Review, Crab Creek Review, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Virga, Whale Road Review, and others. She serves as Poetry Editor for Pidgeonholes, Book Reviewer for Up the Staircase Quarterly, President Emerita of Alabama State Poetry Society, Board Member for the Alabama Writer's Cooperative, Co-Director of PEN America’s Birmingham Chapter, Co-Founder of 100,000 Poets for Change Birmingham, and proud board member of Magic City Poetry Festival. Her poetry collection, Stories to Read Aloud To Your Fetus was published by Finishing Line Press in 2018. Her poetry collection, Defect/or was a finalist for 2015 Robert Dana Poetry Award. She was a poetry contributor at Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference 2019. Her short prose chapbook, RIBALD, has just been published by Bull City Press. She loves to collaborate across mediums.
Next authors in the series: Amanda L. Andrei and Andreea Scridon.
Watch the previous episodes here:
Ep. 3 / Carmen Bugan and Alina Cumpan
Ep. 4 / Diana Manole and Claudia Serea
Ep. 5 / Clara Burghelea and Roxana Cazan
The program is organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York and Bucharest Inside the Beltway with the support of NARPA - North American Romanian Press Association.