I had a lovely piece of news yesterday which gave the new year a big boost. Aged 62, I entered my very first writing (fiction) competition in December, and aged 62 and three-quarters, I’m delighted to announce that I won it. [SFX of excited squealing] This was the Wild Atlantic Writing Awards, open worldwide and organised by the lovely folk at the Ireland Writing Retreat … Continue reading Winning boost to the New Year
The new book will be titled A Spell in Transylvania, and should be out in the first couple of months of 2021, if we’re all spared. It’s partly a journal of this year, 2020, being the Brexit transition year and now the year of the coronavirus COVID-19. We live in interesting times. I like the 20/20 metaphor of clear sight or vision, and the nice … Continue reading Sequel to ‘Stake’ now in progress
Donald Dunham, an American diplomat stationed in Bucharest, said this about Romanians in 1948: “The Romanians are a social phenomenon. As a nation among nations, they are westerners evolved in the East. They are Latins surrounded by Slavs. They are Romans two thousand years away from Rome. They are contemporaries re-produced on Trajan’s Column. “They are peasants with the utmost in sophistication. They farm instinctively, … Continue reading Romanians in 1948… and now?
A Stake in Transylvania – the English edition of my book first published in Romanian translation (Din Liverpool în Carpati) – is now published, at long last. The book was launched with a reception at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Bucharest, where the guests from business, the book world, the British community and friends heard Ambassador Andrew Noble extol the book as a paean to … Continue reading It’s out – and proud
I’ve just found this video from the Romanian Cultural Institute’s event at the 2018 London Book Fair. I was very much the easy-reading grit in the academic literary oyster… My bit starts 1 hr 11 mins in. Continue reading Romania at the London Book Fair
Another jolly interview, thanks to Transylvania Beyond – lots of photos in this one. Continue reading By bat or magic carpet
Thanks to the Romania Journal for some keen questions in yesterday’s interview. I opted to be candid, since cautious answers make for an anodyne read… What do you think – should I have responded more neutrally? Continue reading Candour or caution?
On the first day of Bookfest 2019 in Bucharest, I had an audience to talk about my book A Stake in Transylvania. This is how much I enjoyed it. Thanks to Bookfest’s clever photographer… And at the very end of the day, as a very unexpected bonus, the British Ambassador introduced me to one Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania. And to my great surprise, he … Continue reading What a day! Bookfest 2019
A lovely post on Facebook today from Oana Dunel: “De-abia așteptam sa ajungă cartea asta, sunt atât de nerăbdătoare sa o citesc ca am început lectura de la semafor!😌 Visez de mult ca intr-o buna zi as putea sa ma mut și eu intr-o căsuța pitoreasca la munte,in inima Transilvaniei, deși la o analiza mai atenta pare imposibil acum (drumuri, infrastructura, utilități, scoli, etc)… Sunteți … Continue reading Reading at the traffic lights
Following on from Bucharest’s spring fair Bookfest, I wrote the cover feature for OZB magazine. I plan to write more, to give an airing to various aspects of Romania’s book world – not just to give readers a better idea of how much value they get for their 40 lei, but to spot opportunities in the publishing world and to highlight good practice and book … Continue reading Book world in the spotlight
Arabella McIntyre-Brown 