Writer Ana Blandiana will undertake an extensive tour of France from 1 to 14 March, marking the publication, in a special graphic edition, of her bilingual trilogy comprising the volumes "Poemes resistants", "Poemes amoureux" and "Poemes meditatifs" (Jacques Andre Editeur, 2024-2026).
According to a press release issued by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), the tour will cover five French cities - from Lyon to Paris, via Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Strasbourg - and will include 12 literary events centred on a powerful shared message: literature as an act of resistance, memory and freedom. Blandiana's poetic and civic activity will be highlighted throughout.
The literary meetings in Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg and Paris are included in the programme of the Printemps des poetes festival, one of the most important events dedicated to contemporary poetry. This year's theme, "Liberte. Force vive, deployee" (Freedom: A Living Force, Unfolded), is exemplified by Ana Blandiana's work.
The tour, offering the public the opportunity to meet one of the major voices of European literature, also forms part of events organised for Francophonie Month. It is organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Paris in partnership with the Embassy of Romania in France, the Romanian Consulates General in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Strasbourg, and several leading French cultural and academic institutions.
The trilogy brings together, in thematic volumes, eight poetry collections published by Ana Blandiana between 1970 and 2018.
The first volume, Poemes resistants, initially appeared in a translation by Helene Lenz, revised and updated by poet and translator Jean Poncet for the current edition. Poncet translated the other two volumes in full and will take part in the tour's literary events as dialogue partner and moderator.
The first event will take place on Monday, 2 March, in Lyon at 19:19, where Ana Blandiana will participate in the performance-reading Passeurs d'Europe, part of the Printemps des poetes festival, hosted by Theatre Astree. Actors will read her poem Banuiala in Romanian and French, followed by a discussion with the audience.
The following day, at 18:30 at Lyon 3 University, Blandiana will take part in the literary meeting La poesie face au silence, a reflection on poetry in confrontation with silence, oppression and the absence of words - recurring themes in her work.
On Wednesday, 4 March, at 12:00, Galerie Jean-Louis Mandon in Lyon will host a reading and discussion on the faces of freedom in poetry. In the evening, at 18:30, the Catholic University of Lyon will hold a debate entitled La poesie peut-elle sauver le monde?
On Thursday, 5 March, at 18:00, the poet will appear at the Bibliotheque de l'Alcazar in Marseille for the event Les chemins de la liberte, continuing the theme of freedom.
On Friday, 6 March, in Aix-en-Provence, Ana Blandiana will attend an event at the Michel-Vovelle Library, organised in partnership with the Saint-John Perse Foundation, under the theme Villes de syllabes.
On Saturday, 7 March, at the initiative of the Maison de la poesie in Strasbourg, a debate entitled Le-plus-que-passe: poesie et temoignage will be held at Lieu d'Europe at 18:00, hosted by poet Isabelle Baladine Howald.
On Monday, 9 March, at 17:00, the Palais Universitaire in Strasbourg will host the conference Memoire et poesie de la resistance, exploring the link between memory, resistance and poetic creation, with the participation of Ana Blandiana and Jean Poncet, in the presence of the Culture et histoire dans l'espace roman (CHER) research team.
The tour continues on Tuesday, 10 March, in Paris, where at 18:00 Blandiana will speak on the word as a weapon against forgetting at the event La parole contre l'oubli: Ana Blandiana et le Memorial de Sighet, hosted by La Maison de recherche de l'INALCO. She will discuss the activity of the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighetu Marmatiei, awarded the European Heritage Label.
On Wednesday, 11 March, at 18:00, she will discuss the poet's freedom beyond physical and ideological borders at the meeting La liberte du poete: voix, frontieres, conscience, organised in partnership with PEN Club France and La Maison de Poesie - Fondation Emile Blemont.
On Thursday, 12 March, at 19:30, an evening of poetry and dialogue with the public will take place at the alternative cultural venue L'Ours et la vieille grille in the Mouffetard district, in the heart of the Latin Quarter.
The tour concludes on Friday, 13 March, at 19:00, at the Palais Behague, seat of the Romanian Embassy in France, where Ana Blandiana will discuss her poetic and civic trajectory in the event Ana Blandiana, parcours poetique, parcours citoyen.
An emblematic figure of contemporary Romanian literature, Ana Blandiana embodies freedom with remarkable intensity. Censored and banned from publication several times during Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship, she turned writing into a space of liberty and a testimony of dignity. Her work, translated into over 20 languages - with some volumes published with the support of the National Book Centre within the ICR - is structured, in Jean Poncet's words, around three major axes: the force of revolt, the wisdom of maturity and the beauty of love.
Among the major distinctions she has received are the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature (2024), the Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award (Canada, 2017/2018), the European Poet of Freedom Award (Gdansk, Poland, 2016), the Legion d'Honneur (France, 2009), the Gottfried von Herder International Prize (Vienna, 1982) and the Romanian Women of Courage Award (US Department of State, 2014).
Poet, translator and linguist Jean Poncet has published five volumes of poetry translated into numerous languages and has translated Romanian and Anglophone poets into French. His translations of Lucian Blaga - whose complete poetic works are currently being published in French - have received several literary awards. For his contribution to promoting Romanian poetry, he received the Lucian Blaga Prize in 1997. He is an honorary member of the Romanian Writers' Union, a contributor to literary journals and a member of the Voix vives festival team in Sete.
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