
Ana Blandiana interview in The Tablet
‘Romanian author and political activist Blandiana enthralls in this anthology of her early work. Fidelity to truth, ethical inquiry, union with nature, and the ubiquity of the soul underscore narratives that resuscitate awe and riot against passivity […] With nonpareil enlightenment, valor, and spectral beauty, Blandiana’s visions make an indelible impression.’ – Publishers Weekly, starred review of The Shadow of Words
The Shadow of Words, published by Bloodaxe in February 2025, covers Romanian poet Ana Blandiana’s early collections published from 1964 to 1981, during the brief period of political thaw of Romania’s communist regime, and includes uncollected poems from that period which only appeared in anthologies. In these poems aestheticism takes on a subversive role, reaffirming the autonomy of the poetic word and freeing it from the stultifying demands of propagandist proletarian art. This collection follows My Native Land A4 (2014), The Sun of Hereafter • Ebb of the Senses (2017) and Five Books (2021), completing Bloodaxe’s presentation of Blandiana’s collected poems to date in English translation. All four books were translated into English by Paul Scott Derrick and Viorica Patea.
Ana Blandiana is one of Romania’s foremost poets, a leading dissident before the fall of Communism, and now one of her country’s strongest candidates for the Nobel Prize. A prominent opponent of the Ceaușescu regime, Blandiana became known for her daring, outspoken poems as well as for her courageous defence of ethical values. Over the years, her works have become the symbol of a moral consciousness that refuses to be silenced by a totalitarian government. She received the Griffin Trust’s Lifetime Recognition Award in 2018, and was the recipient of the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature.
The Shadow of Words was launched in person on 11 March 2025 at the Romanian Cultural Institute, London. Ana Blandiana and her translator Viorica Patea read from the book in Romanian and English, and were in conversation with Fiona Sampson. Introduced by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley. This event was the highlight of Romania’s participation in the London Book Fair. Scroll down to see a video of Bloodaxe's joint online launch event with Ana and both her translators.
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INTERVIEW WITH ANA BLANDIANA
A two-page interview with Romanian poet Ana Blandiana is featured in The Tablet of 21 June 2025. The interview took place at the Romanian Cultural Institute in London ahead of Ana’s in-person launch event for The Shadow of Words on 11 March 2025.
The piece ran under the standfirst: ‘One of Europe’s most revered poets has sharp words for both the corruption and repression of the communist era in which she grew up, and the materialism and vulgarity of the culture that she encountered when she travelled to the West’
‘At 83, her name is synonymous with defiance and integrity in a country with a sad history of repression and corruption. […] Widely considered one of her country’s strongest candidates for a Nobel prize, her published works include 17 collections of poetry, 11 of essays, two of short stories and a novel.’ – Anthony Gardner, introducing Ana Blandiana in The Tablet
In print in the 21 June 2025 issue. The piece is also available online - register to read for free.
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/ana-blandiana-and-the-adventure-of-being-honest/
REVIEW COVERAGE
An excellent review of The Shadow of Words features in the Summer 2025 issue of Orbis.
'This collection, featuring the first four books of Romanian poet, essayist and political commentator, Ana Blandiana, introduces a vibrant, complex voice moving from youthful idealism and criticism of a repressive regime to a nuanced exploration of identity, heritage, religion and the natural world. [...] I am new to Blandiana’s work but would strongly recommend discovering her. The translations are good with subtle metre, unforced rhyme and occasional acknowledgement that it’s impossible to render a specific word’s multiple layers in English. Viorica Patea has also provided an excellent introduction.' – Theresa Sowerby, Orbis, on The Shadow of Words
ONLINE REVIEW COVERAGE
Asymptote Journal, online 21 May 2025
Ana Blandiana’s The Shadow of Words was reviewed in depth by Charles Altieri online in Asymptote, the premier site for world literature in translation. The reviewer began by praising the introduction by the collection’s translators, Paul Scott Derrick and Viorica Patea, ‘in which they give a superbly lucid account of the intricate shifts in the poet’s sensibility in these beginning years, from 1964 to 1981.’
‘This searching for shadows establishes the conditions for her brilliant career, of which the primary feature is a startling direct refusal of lyric rhetoric, combined with a startling and intimate structural organization. [...] the poet’s early work invites us precisely to inhabit a place where violence is projected toward comfortable states of self-consciousness, where every trace becomes a wound, and where memory is necessary or unavoidable because it remains incomplete. Pain is intensified here, as is isolation, violence, self-consciousness—but also acceptance, persistence, and liberation.’ – Charles Altieri, Asymptote Journal, on The Shadow of Words
Read the full review online here.
US REVIEW COVERAGE
Publishers Weekly, Monday 10 March 2025
The Shadow of Words was given an excellent starred review in Publishers Weekly of 10 March 2025. The book is distributed in the USA by Consortium Book Sales from 15 April 2025.
‘Romanian author and political activist Blandiana enthralls in this anthology of her early work. Fidelity to truth, ethical inquiry, union with nature, and the ubiquity of the soul underscore narratives that resuscitate awe and riot against passivity: […] With nonpareil enlightenment, valor, and spectral beauty, Blandiana’s visions make an indelible impression.’ – Publishers Weekly, starred review of The Shadow of Words
Read the full review here.
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ONLINE LAUNCH READING
Wendesday 12 February 2025, 7pm
Online launch reading by Ana Blandiana, Krisztina Tóth & Charlotte Van den Broeck with their translators
We were joined online by Ana Blandiana, Krisztina Tóth, Charlotte Van den Broeck and their translators Paul Scott Derrick, Viorica Patea, George Szirtes and David Colmer for our February 2025 launch event. All three poets and their translators celebrated the publication of their books by reading live and discussing their work with one another and the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley.
This multilingual Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available to watch below or here: https://www.youtube.com/live/SiYFLYPrR74.
[18 June 2025]