Cigarettes Until Tomorrow: Romanian Poetry (Paperback or Softback)

Along the eastern edge of Europe, Romania’s vibrant poetry scene perches on the Black Sea. In Cigarettes Until Tomorrow, eight Romanian poets use black humor searing contemporary language to make everyday scenes profound. Tanks invade while soccer games go down to the last minute. There are lonely cemeteries and urine-soaked sheets  and endless Instagram reels. The resulting collection is a stunning portrait of all our lives in the 21st century: the boredom, the outrage, and the ecstasy.

Adela Greceanu is the author of four full-length poetry collections. Her book Şi cuvintele sînt o provincie [Words are also a province] won the 2014 Observator Cultural Poetry Prize, the top literary distinction in Romania, and in 2021, a volume of her collected works was published in the prestigious Cartier press contemporary poetry series. Greceanu has also published a novel and short stories. She is an eminent cultural journalist through her work for Radio România Cultural and her own podcast.

Moni Stănilă’s six volumes of poetry, four novels, and one non-fiction journal have established her as an essential voice in contemporary Romanian literature. Translated into twelve languages and awarded many prizes, Stănilă addresses themes as varied as Christian faith, women’s social roles, and the sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi.

Nora Iuga (b. 1931) made her editorial debut in 1968 and has published over 20 collections of poems, 8 books of prose, and 33 books translated from the German. She is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including several from the Writers' Union of Romania, as well as the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2015) and the National Order of Romania in rank of Commander (2017).

Emil-Iulian Sude is one of the first award-winning poets of Roma ethnicity in Romania. He published five collections of poems, including Scărarul (The Ladder Maker, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Grinta, 2014), which was also translated into Hebrew by Menachem M. Falek and published in Israel (Jerusalem, Israel: Zur-Ot, 2014). Sude earned 20 awards, including the 2018 Diploma of Excellence for his contribution to the development and promotion of Roma culture and identity.

Elena Vlădăreanu (b. 1981) is a writer and journalist from Romania. She is the host of a radio show (The Stage and the Screen) at the national broadcast station, where she talks about movies. She has published several poetry and short story collections, but she is also known for her theatre plays and performance scripts. She is running a Ph.D. research about biographies and autobiographies in contemporary theatre.