photo © JAN H. MYSJKIN

Nichita Danilov [Romania]

Nichita Danilov was born in 1952 in the village of Climäuti in the commune of Muşenita (Suceava). He has worked as an economist, proofreader, teacher, museographer, publisher, editor (Convorbiri literare), editor-in-chief (Kitej-Grad), head of culture department (Monitorul de Iași), director (Theatre for Children and Youth Luceafărul in Iași), literary secretary (National Theatre in Iași), director (House of Culture Mihai Ursachi of Iași), acting ambassador of Romania to Moldova (in 1999) and, also, deputy director at the Romanian Cultural Institute from the Republic of Moldova (until 2017).

Danilov is the author of twelve books of poetry, eight of prose and five books of essays. His debut volume Fîntîni carteziene (1980; tr: Cartesian Wells) was awarded the Romanian Writers’ Union Prize for First Books. In 2003, his renowned collection Second-Hand Souls was published, combining the spiritual heritage of his native Romania with a surrealist poetics, his writing is playful, ironic, and language-centered, engaging in games of a metaphysical depth. His novel Omul din eprubetă (2021; tr: The Man in the Test Tube) was granted the Constantin Brancusi Prize for Art and Culture in partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Romania in 2023.

In English his work has appeared in the anthologies Young Poets of a New Romania and City of Dreams and Whispers. Among Danilov’s awards are prizes from the Writers’ Union of Romania (1980, 1986, 1996), the Iaşi Writers’ Association (1982, 1985, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2016, 2022), the Soros Foundation Award (1995), and the Writers’ Union of Moldova (1997, 2000).

He is a permament contributor to the Ziarul de Iași newspaper and to the Romania Literară literary magazine.

Nichita Danilov lives in Iaşi, Romania.