Readings full of passion, truth and skill to match a time of tumult and reinvention
Our celebration of Romanian-American and Romanian-Canadian literary creativity, overwhelmingly represented by female authors, continues with Romanian-born and Bronx-raised award-winning author and academic Raluca Albu, the recipient of the coveted 2020 NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship.
Raluca Albu was born in Romania and raised in the Bronx. She has held editorial positions at Guernica, BOMB (where she seeks out underrepresented voices and stories), and NYU, where she teaches writing. Her work has been published in the Guardian, The Village Voice, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. She is at work on a novel about an illegal abortion doctor who saved lives in communist Romania, told through a fictionalized secret police file and a queer American daughter's childhood memories. She currently serves as the deputy editor of Doctors Without Borders. An award-winning author, she is the recipient of the coveted 2020 NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship. Albu is a graduate of Bard College where she was in community with legendary Romanian author and professor Norman Manea. She holds an MFA in writing and an MA in teaching from Columbia University. Her research interests include profiling creative makers and exploring unexpected ties between disparate communities. As a juror for the 2018 Best Translated Book Award and the 2020 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise, she enjoyed championing global perspectives in the arts. She's also worked on documentaries like "Requiem for the American Dream", "Nuns on the Bus", and "She's Beautiful When She's Angry". She came to the USA with her family in the 1980s as refugees fleeing the Ceausescu dictatorship.
Women’s voices dominate the literature written by Romanians in North America. Co-curated with author and academic Cristina A. Bejan, Romanian Women Voices in North America turns the spotlight on this phenomenal wave of creativity and brings together the largest group of Romanian-American and Romanian-Canadian women writers ever assembled in cyberspace. The program’s second season features another inspiring and diverse line-up of authors, including Raluca Albu, Adina Dabija, Daniela Groza, Felicia Mihali, Irina Moga, Adriana Oniță, Doris Plantus, Stella Rădulescu, Elena Secotă, and Saviana Stănescu.
Watch the previous episodes here:
Ep. 1 / Adriana Oniță
Ep. 2 / Doris Pantus
Ep. 3 / Daniela Groza
Ep. 4 / Stella Vinițchi Rădulescu
Ep. 5 / Elena Secotă
Ep. 6 / Angela Chirilă
Ep. 7 / Adina Dabija
Ep. 8 / Irina Moga
Ep. 9 / Saviana Stănescu
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.