Vasile Baghiu

Considered by many critics as one of the most representative poetic voices of his generation.

During communist times, when he tried making his debut as a poet, his publication options were extremely limited.

After the fall of the communism he developed an intense passion for literary and public activity by initiating and sustaining columns of critique and essay having publishing several articles. In addition, he published a poetical manifesto called “Chimerism”, which theorizes on a trans-national perspective in poetry.

He has published in Romania seven volumes of poetry [1994: Gustul instrainarii (The Alienation’s Taste); 1996: Ratacirile doamnei Bovary (Madame Bovary’s Wanderings); 1996: Febra (The Fevre); 1998: Maniera (The Manner); 2001: Fantoma sanatoriului (The Sanatorium’s Ghost); 2003: Himerus Alter in Rheinland (Himerus Alter in Rheinland); 2008: Cat de departe am mers (My Own Limits)], a collection of short stories [2004: Punctul de plecare (The Starting Point)], a novel [2006: Ospiciul (The Madhouse)], several articles, essays, and translations. 

Recipient of the following prizes: (1) Prize "Aurel Dumitrascu" (for poetry, in 1994), (2) Prize of the magazine "Poesis" (both for poetry, in 1995, and for literary critique, in 1998), (3) Prize of the Romanian Writers Union, Jassy branch (for the novel "Ospiciul" [The Madhouse], in 2007).

Enclosed in many anthologies, the most recent being the noted “O panorama critica a poeziei romanesti din secolul al XX-lea” (A Critique Panorama of the Twentieth Century’s Romanian Poetry) by Marin Mincu. 

He has been awarded a few “writers-in-residence” grants in Europe: Heinrich-Böll-Haus Langenbroich (Germany, June-September, 2002), Künstlerdorf Schöppingen (Germany, June-October, 2003), Kulturkontakt Austria (Austria, January-February, 2006), Cove Park (Scotland, May-June, 2006), Künstlerwohnung Chretzeturm (Switzerland, October-December, 2006).

Somehow according to his poetical manifesto, he also writes poems in English. Some of these poems have appeared in magazines & e-zines in the USA, the UK, Canada and New Zeeland, including Poetic Diversity, The Blue House, Subtle Tea, Flutter Poetry Journal, Scorched Earth Publishing, The Orange Room Review, Art With Words, Magma Poetry, Stellar Showcase Journal, Southern Ocean Review. He is also included in the American anthologies Chorus of Voices (TJMF Publishing), L.A. Melange (Sybaritic Press) and is a co-author of the poetry book Transatlantic Crossings. The Constant Language of Poetry (TJMF Publishing, USA, 2006).

Between 2006 and 2009 Vasile was a member of the editorial board of Poetry Circle, a forum for poetry on the Internet.

Many of his works have been translated in different languages. One of his essays about poetry appeared in the Spanish magazine “Serta” (2000) and other poems in an Italian anthology “Appogiato ad un libro fiorito” (Campanotto Editore, 2001). In 2007, the magazine of Magyar language “Varad” published two of his poems in translation, and three anthologies of contemporary Romanian poets (in Magyar, Slovakian and Czech) also enclosed some of his poems.

His most notable accomplishments in the German language’s space are inclusion in a short story anthology of the Heinrich Böll Foundation entitled “Um etwas zeit zu retten” (Berlin, 2003), as well as poems in both the anthology “Abgenutzter Engel- Zehn rumänische Dichter” (Dionysos Verlag, Kastellaun, 2003) and in the magazine “Dichtungsring” (Bonn, 2005). The 2004 yearbook of the German region Düren published an essay about his poetry: “Rumänische Impressionen. Vasile Baghiu und seine Gedichte aus Langenbroich” (author: dr. Achim Jaeger). In 2006, the Austrian magazine “Buchkultur” featured one of his articles related to his manifesto of “Chimerism”. In Switzerland, in 2006, the journal Schaffhausser Nachrichten featured an article about him as a writer with the title „Von der Sehnsucht, die Welt zu erkunden“.

He has participated for the last four years at poetry workshops, readings and lectures in schools and other institutions, in Romania, Germany, Austria, Scotland and Switzerland, during his literary residencies. In Romania he leaded a poetry workshop with teenagers at the public library of his town. In 2003, Vasile participated as an invited poet at the International Poetry Festival in Bredevoort (Netherlands). Also in 2007, he participated at the International Writers Conference of PEN-Club in Bled (Slovenia) and at the Romanian Poetic Tour in Slovakia and Czech Republic.

Having graduated a Sanitary High School and a Post-Secondary Sanitary School, he has worked as a nurse in various health care facilities (a sanatorium, a labor, a cardiologic consulting room) and found that the experience of being acutely aware of people’s sufferance has positively influenced both his writing and his relationship with life itself. He also got, in 2008, a BS in psichology.

Vasile’s father was one of the very few authors in Romania who wrote in the Stalinist time about experiences as a prisoner in the Soviet Union. He died in 1974 (when Vasile was eight), leaving a precious manuscript with memories related to his prison time in Siberia (1943-1952), a book written immediately after he came back home, kept secret until he passed away, discovered then by Vasile, kept secret again all the communist time, and finally published in 1998, nine years after the Romanian radical political change in 1989.

Vasile lives now in Piatra Neamt, Romania, with his wife Iuliana and their children Ioana (19) and Stefan (16). He currently works in the health promotion domain, where he initiates educative programs for schools. Within this service he founded the first education for health magazine in his country (“Modus Vivendi”), in 1997, and succeeded to release eighteen issues.

Vasile Baghiu speaks English and has good knowledge of French. He has also been learning German for some time.

He often likes to say that literature is rather a matter of life than art.

Short Bio Note

Vasile Baghiu (b. 1965) is a Romanian writer, author of seven books of poetry, a collection of short stories and a novel published in his country. He has been awarded a few “writers-in-residence” grants, in Germany, Austria, Scotland and Switzerland. Some of his works have appeared in translation, in German, Spanish, Italian, Magyar and Slovakian. Many of his poems written in English can be read in magazines and anthologies such as “Poetic Diversity”, “The Blue House”, “Subtle Tea”, “Magma Poetry”, “Southern Ocean Review”, “The Orange Room Review”, “Flutter Poetry Journal”, “The Stellar Showcase Journal.”, “L.A. Melange”, “Art With Words”. Co-author of the poetry book “Transatlantic Crossings: The Constant Language of Poetry,” (TJMF Publishing, USA, 2006). Vasile had in the past many working experiences as a nurse. He has recently got a BS in psichology. He lives now with his wife, daughter and son in Romania, working in the education for health domain.