Call
Because Romania still has people of worth and because these people must be respected and known – both within the borders and abroad – the “Doina Cornea” Foundation, together with other prominent Romanian personalities from literary and cultural life, at the initiative of Mr. Gabriel Cojocaru, proposes and supports the candidacy of Mrs. Ana Blandiana for the Nobel Prize for Literature for 2021.
Overcoming the allergy of tiny groups of people that act behind the scenes for their own interest (often of a political nature) to everything that exceeds their value, our initiative wants to restore the true values - with great international visibility in contemporary world literature – and through this to do an extremely necessary act of justice.
We invite you to join this call by signing this petition – whether you are an individual, an institution, organization or company – taking into account the reasons and arguments listed below that stand behind this call.
In the broadest sense of the word, this action can become a country project, with its vision shared shared by those who still love Romanian culture and Romania as a whole.
Ana BLANDIANA (her suggestive literary name) or – Otilia-Valeria Rusan, born Coman, saw the light of day in Timișoara on March 25, 1942. She is the daughter of the priest Gheorghe Coman and Otilia Coman, born Diacu. She was married to Romulus Rusan. She graduated the Faculty of Philology of Babeş Bolyai University of Cluj in 1967. She has received several scholarships from: Iowa University, USA. (1973-1974); Heidelberg Universität (1991) and D.A.A.D., Berlin (1993).
Over the years, she has been:
- The editor of the “Amphitheater” Magazine (1967-1974);
- A librarian at the Library of the Institute of Fine Arts Bucharest (1975-1977);
- A member of the Council of the National Salvation Front (December 22, 1989 – January 29, 1990, when he resigned from this body that became political);
- President of the Romanian PEN Club (1990-2004) which she re-established in March 1990;
- Honorary president of the Romanian PEN Club (since 2004).
As President of PEN Romania she has:
- participated in International PEN Conferences and Congresses in Vienna (1990), Paris (1991), Santiago Pe Compostela (1992), Prague (1994), Guadalajara, Mexico (1996), Edinburgh (1997), Warsaw (1999) , Moscow (2000), Ohrid (2002);
- Organized four international-regional conferences in Romania: “The Writer and the Power” – Neptune, September 1997; “Between physical and spiritual freedom”, Sighet, June 1998; “More literatures, one language, several languages, one literature”, Iași, April 2000; “European PEN Clubs, Arguments of the Future United Europe”, Sinaia, July 2001.
Prohibitions
After her literary debut in the Tribuna magazine (1959), Ana Blandiana was subjected to three publication bans:
- 1959-1964, as the daughter of a former political prisoner;
- 1985, for the publication of four poems in the magazine Amphitheater. After the ban, the poems were spread by hand, this being one of the first cases of Romanian samizdat;
- 1988-1989, for the publication of a parody against the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in the form of a children’s poem.
International activity
As a guest of various universities, academies and cultural organizations she has taken many documentary and study trips to various European countries holding public readings and conferences – participating in meetings, congresses and poetry festivals.
Throughout her career she has published around forty titles of poetry, prose, essays and children’s literature.
Ana Blandiana’s literary work has been translated into 25 foreign languages - Albanian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, English, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Hungarian, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua (Peruvian), Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Vietnamese.
Between 1969-2020 her work won important national and international awards:
1969 – Premiul de poezie al Uniunii Scriitorilor; 1970 – Premiul de poezie al Academiei Române; 1980 – 1969 – Poetry Prize of the Writers’ Union; 1970 – Poetry Prize of the Romanian Academy; 1980 – Children’s Literature Prize of the Writers’ Union; 1982 – Herder International Prize, Vienna; 1980 – Prize for prose of the Writers’ Association of Bucharest; 1997 – “Mihai Eminescu” National Poetry Prize; 2000 – Poetry Prize of the Writers’ Union; 2002 – Vilenica International Prize, Slovenia; 2002 – Opera Omnia Award of the Romanian Writers’ Union; 2005 – Giuseppe Acerbi International Prize for Poetry, Italy; 2005 – Camaiore International Poetry Prize, Italy; 2007 – International Poetry Prize of the city of Aquila, Italy; 2007 – Grand Prize of the Lucian Blaga International Festival, XXVII Edition; 2014 – Cultural Observatory Magazine Award for Memorialistics; 2014 – Opera Omnia Award granted by Convorbiri Literare Magazine, 18th Edition, Iași; 2016 – Distinction and Prize “European Poet of Freedom”, Gdańsk; 2016 – Grand Fest Fest Award, Cluj Napoca; 2017 – „Gheorghe Crăciun“ Award for Opera Omnia awarded by Observator Cultural Magazine; 2018 – Griffin Lifetime Recongnition Award, Toronto; 2019 – Golden Wreath, Struga; 2019 – Jan Smrek Award, Bratislava; 2019 – Lucian Blaga National Award; 2020 – International Prize Fondazione Terzo Pilastro, Rome.
In conclusion, please contribute to this project by:
- Joining the Ana Blandiana supporters by signing the table on the Doina Cornea foundation website (see below);
- Sending your signature, accompanied (or not) by a small text in support of the candidacy of Ms Ana Blandiana, to the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Prize Committee, to the Doina Cornea Foundation:
Strada Alba Iulia nr. 16
400197 Cluj,
Romania.
A selection of your texts will be published on the foundation’s website and all the texts and the list of signatures will accompany the material through which our proposal will be made to the Nobel Committee.
Of course your personal data (address, email address) will not be made public.
- In order to stay up to date with the progress, visit the foundation’s website periodically or like our Facebook page: here!
- It is also very important to broadcast this call through all the channels you have access to.
Cluj, 27th of May 2020
Leontin Horațiu Iuhas
for
Doina Cornea Fondation
Un proiect suținut:
Completează formularul și șusţine candidatura doamnei
Ana Blandiana la Premiul Nobel pentru Literatură 2021:
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