WITmonth Q&As: Bogdan Suceava on Romania

Throughout August, Literalab will be asking writers, translators and publishers to comment on both the women writers from their own language they most appreciate having been translated into English as well as those they would most like to see make the leap.

Bogdan Suceavă is a Romanian prose writer, poet, journalist and a Professor of Mathematics at California State University, Fullerton. Of his many books two are available in English translation: Coming from an Off-Key Time and the recently published Miruna, A Tale.

Bogdan Suceavă

Can you name one or two women writers that you are particularly grateful have been translated from your own language/country into English?

I’m especially happy that Herta Müller has received international recognition for her work, since she knows Romania extremely well, in particular the Romanian intellectuals and their behavior under various political regimes. I am glad Liliana Ursu’s poetry has many translations in English, this is good. Adriana Bittel has (as far as I am aware) just one single short story published in the Review of Contemporary Fiction, the Spring 2010 issue. However, she is a master of the short genre, most of her work being focused on female characters. It would be great if she would become known to English speaking audiences.

Can you name one or two women writers from your own language/country yet to be translated into English that you would especially like to see reaching English-language readers?

A writer I deeply admire is Marta Petreu, who has an author editorial series published by Polirom. She is equally impressive as scholar and as poet, something encountered very rarely. I would be happy if as much as possible of her work would make it into English.

One of the most important novels in contemporary Romanian letters is Exuviae, by Simona Popescu, a novel on memory and childhood, and I hope some day it will be translated.

Last year, the New York-based poet and fiction writer Adina Dabija published a captivating novel depicting a profound personal transformation, titled Shaman.

Also very interesting is the work of the young novelist Corina Sabău, whose fiction started to attract the attention of large audiences in Romania.

One of the most professional writers in my generation is Florina Ilis, whose novel Children’s Crusade could be a success if translated in English, and that’s just one of her several interesting novels. Last but not least, I was particularly pleased to see the interest raised by Adina Rosetti‘s novel Deadline (Chapter One excerpt) when translated into French last year.

Photo – Clockwise from top left: Adina Dabija, Corina Sabău, Marta Petreu and Herta Müller