Monica Cure

Thanks, Monica! It was such a pleasure to talk to you both about this wonderful book. It really was one of the most compelling original things I've read in a long time.

Wonderful talking to you as well! Thank you!

Trafika Europe Radio - Trafika Europe

Liliana Corobca and I gave an interview to @joewilliamshistory.bsky.social at Trafika Europe Radio on The Censor's Notebook (@sevenstories.bsky.social/@sevenstoriesuk.bsky.social), with a reading starting at 5:10. Always love introducing this ingenious book to new readers!

bit.ly/censors-note...

Confronting the silence: An Interview with Monica Cure — APOFENIE Interviewed by Irina Costache "For me, being able to read these stories fills in a lot of gaps. Many times, it's not because anyone in my family or the Romanians that I grew up with in Detroit are wi...

From the archives: Romanian translator @monicacure.bsky.social talks about how translation can aid recovery and restoration and her hopes for future translated Romanian literature.

www.apofenie.com/the-latest-c...

I'm so sorry Kate.

The day I first heard a Shahed drone buzzing overhead The past 24 hours have signaled yet another decisive moment in the war, even if it might not immediately seem that way.

Today Ukraine's southwestern city of Chernivtsi, located on the border with the EU, was targeted by Russia with Shahed drones. It's a dark milestone in the war. I wrote about this frightening day for @kyivindependent.com.

kyivindependent.com/the-day-i-fi...

It's a great honor. Congrats to my fellow finalists. Looking forward to congratulating the winners soon as well!

Thank you for my new favorite hashtag!

“You will hear thunder and remember me,
And think: she wanted storms.”

—Anna Akhmatova; tr. Donald Michael Thomas

EBRD Literature Prize 2025: Awards Ceremony YouTube video by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

EBRD Literature Prize 2025: Awards Ceremony

youtube.com/live/Bn8i-BJ...

Beloit, WI revitalized its waterfront and chose this way to celebrate it: by bringing to life Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

move over hot girl summer, it’s time for sweaty stressed girl who just wants to read her book in the shade summer

The 4 judges on the steps to nowhere at New College

A happy jury! Congratulations to everyone on the short list and to Jeffrey Zuckerman, the winner of the 2025 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for Jellyfish Have No Ears by Adèle Rosenfeld (MacLehose) translated from the French

All the 8 shortlisted titles spread out on a table

Slowly getting ready to announce the Oxford-Weidenfeld translation prize @oxfordcct.bsky.social. Minna Jeffrey, Thom Murphy, @acantrill.bsky.social, and I had our work cut out for us!

2025 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize shortlist is announced We are thrilled to announce the shortlist for the 2025 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. Congratulations to all shortlisted translators!

In case you missed the Short List: occt.web.ox.ac.uk/news-item-1

Each of these books brings something truly special to the world.

I can't wait to be in Oxford next week for Oxford Translation Day! It has been thrilling being part of the jury for this amazing prize along with my fellow judges.

Translation Multiples: From Global Culture to Postcommunist Democracy

In Translation Multiples, Kasia Szymanska examines what happens when translators, poets, and artists expose the act of translation by placing parallel translation variants next to one another in a standalone work of art.

Out now: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

It was amazing to see ‘The Roma’ in my local bookshop @goldenharebooks.bsky.social — head over for a signed copy 🤭

Stack of 5 Romanian street meat rolls with mustard and salt next to them on a paper tray. 3 pickles in the background

Mici after voting at Obor market with friends. We're hoping for the best.

A single red poppy growing from a pile of rubble with a yellow gas pipe in the foreground and a makeshift fence of barbed wire and chicken wire. A clear blue sky

Mood going into this election weekend here in Romania. Hoping we choose a president that will keep us connected to the rest of Europe, who will behave respectfully and act wisely and honestly for the common good. Vreau înainte, nu înapoi.

People gathered with blue balloons, Romanian flags, and someone wearing the EU flag

The pro-Europe march in Bucharest has started. I love seeing this support ahead of the upcoming elections. Romania becoming part of the EU is part of what allowed me to return here.

RIP Henry James you would have loved the story of an American from the Midwest who enters a world of European intrigue

I've stared at the Too Great a Sky cover right side up and upside down but it's beautiful at this angle too.

I'm grateful for the publishing houses, translators, readers, reviewers, prize committee members, and everyone else working to change things, because change always comes at a cost even if it's worth it. The ability to hear diverse voices is at the heart of democracy - and a meaningful life.

Also, that 3% is a far cry from reflecting the cultural diversity and makeup of America itself. We can't even understand ourselves, let alone the rest of the world, without literature in translation. (The same holds true for the UK which is now at 5%.)

It doesn't just "happen" that in the U.S. only 3% of publications in English are translations (and almost half of those are from only 3 languages - French, German, and Spanish) while in other countries up to 80% of publications are translations specifically from English.

Panel of 4 people with PEN America World Voices Festival screen in background. L to R: Sandra Smith, Monica Cure (with microphone), Michael Eskin, and Sawad Hussain

I had an amazing time at the @penamerica.bsky.social World Voices Festival. The invitation to speak on the translation and censorship panel gave me the chance to reflect on the origins of the myth of "market demands" when it comes to translated literature.

The devastating, shortsighted attack on literature continues. List from Magic City Books. Who'd they miss? Note: the small publishers selected here for financial attack include (among other very worthy and important presses) @transitbooks.bsky.social, publisher of 2023 Nobel laureate Jon Fosse.

Molasses Books in Brooklyn. What a truly fortunate find on my search for coffee to fight my jet lag.

Colțea hospital, old neoclassic style building

A lovely place to wait for the bus to the airport on a Bucharest morning