MIRCEA DINESCU

MIRCEA DINESCU (b. November 11, 1950, Slobozia) is a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of the “Ștefan Gheorghiu” Academy in Bucharest. He made his debut in poetry in 1967, in Luceafărul magazine, and four years later he published the volume Invocacie nimănui, for which he was awarded by the Union of Writers for Debut. In August 1988, when he was invited to the Soviet Union by the Union of Writers of the USSR, he gave an interview to the radio station Vocea Rusiei (Golos Rossii), Romanian section. On this occasion he welcomed the policy of glasnost and perestroika in the U.S.S.R. Following the interview given in February 1989 to Gilles Schiller (pseudonym of Jean Stern) and appearing in the French daily Libération, in which he explicitly attacked the Ceaușescu regime, he was fired from the magazine România literăra, expelled from the Romanian Communist Party and subjected to house arrest, taking away his right to sign. He was present in the Romanian Television studios during the Revolution of December 22, 1989. President of the Writers’ Union between 1990 and 1993, from where he resigned following a scandal. He founded the political satire magazines Academia Cațavencu (1990), Plai cu boi (2001) and Aspirina sărăcului (2003).

He was a member of the National Council for the Study of Security Archives (C.N.S.A.S.). He is the founder of the “Danube cultural port” from Cetate (Calafat), being the owner of the estate, mansion and mill that belonged to the Barbu Drugă nobleman. In 2003 he was nominated by Time Europe magazine in the Hate Busters category in the issue dedicated to “heroes”. Active presence in the public space, has constant critical, televised and publicist interventions. He writes exuberant poetry, in the style of Arthur Rimbaud.

Volumes published in Romanian: Invocatie nimănui (1971, Ed. Cartea Românească); Elegies since I was younger (1973, Romanian Book Ed.); The owner of bridges (European stamps) (1976, Ed. Cartea Românească); At your disposal (1979, Romanian Book Ed.); The terror of common sense (1980, Romanian Book Ed.); Democracy of nature (1981, Romanian Book Ed.); Exile on a peppercorn (1983, Romanian Book Ed.); Rimbaud the merchant (1985, Romanian Book Ed.); Death reads the newspaper (1989, Amsterdam, Editions Rodopi; 1990, Bucharest, Ed. Cartea Românească); Proprietarul de poduri (anthology (1968-1985), (1990, Ed. Evening); Drunkenness with Marx (1996, Ed. Evening); Pamphlete velese si triste (1996, Ed. Evening), Nelu Santinelu, shepherd La Cotroceni ( 1998, Ed. Evening); Whistles in the church (anthology) (1998, Ed. Evening); Corijent la cele sfinte (2003, Ed. Mircea Dinescu Poetry Foundation); De gustibus… – an exhibition of tastes and colors – with a Culinary Decalog by Mircea Dinescu (art album edited by the Art Museum under its own direction on the occasion of the 2009 exhibition); Women from the Past Century. New Poems (2004-2010) (2010, Ed. Mircea Dinescu Poetry Foundation), My Love to bring countries out of crisis (2011, Ed. Foundation for Poetry Mircea Dinescu) The chair with three legs: masterpieces and masterpieces (2019).

Volumes published in foreign languages: À votre disposition (1982, Ed. Univers; trad. et adapté en français par Marc Rombaut et Constantin Crisan; with a preface by Romul Munteanu); A jóság rémuralma (1982, Bucharest), Exile On A Peppercorn (1985, Forest Books, London-Boston, 1985), Exil im Pfefferkorn (1989, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp Verlag, trans. Werner Söllner), Mircea Dinescu – Poèmes ( 1989, Paris, Albin Michel Éd., with an introduction by Eugène Ionesco); Mirage posthume: poèmes (1989, Paris, Albin Michel, translated from the Romanian language by Alain Paruit; avant propos dʼEugène Ionesco; postface dʼAlexandru Papilian et Lucian Raicu); Trente deux poésies (1989, [Paris], La Bartavelle, pref. by Lucian Raicu, trans. by Miron Kiropol); Titanic-Waltz (1989, Budapest), Ein Maulkorb fürs Gras (1990, Zürich, Ammann Verlag, trans. Werner Söllner); De Dood leest de krant (1990, Amsterdam); A hálál tuzáhot olvas (1991, Pécs); Democracy of nature (1995, Sofia, Ed. Hristo Botev, translation and foreword by Ognean Stamboliev); Szentségekbál bukásra (2005, Miercurea Ciuc); Szegek, ebek és szúró darazsak (2007, Miercurea Ciuc); Bőröndnyi ország (2009, Miercurea Ciuc).

Literary awards and distinctions: Romanian Writers’ Union Award for Debut (1971), Romanian Writers’ Union Award for Poetry (1976, 1981), Romanian Academy Award for Literature (1976), International Poetry Award (1989, Rotterdam), International Award CET (Central European Time) (1998, Budapest), Herder Prize for Literature (1999), “Mihai Eminescu” National Poetry Prize – Opera Omnia (2008), honorary member of the University of Augsburg (1990).

Decorations: National Order “Star of Romania” in the rank of Commander (1 December 2000) “for outstanding artistic achievements and for the promotion of culture, on the National Day of Romania”.