Hour of Sand

Selected Poems 1969-1989

Blandiana Ana

Ana Blandiana is one of Romania's most admired and popular poets. Her delicate, subtle and pointed poetry has gained her a large readership at home, where she has received the highest literary awards. Her poetry is direct, personal and uncompromising in its vision; it has strong traditional roots, both literary and spiritual, yet is acutely responsive to present-day concerns.

Ana Blandiana's poetry and prose have been widely translated in Europe, but "The Hour of Sand" is the first selection of her poems to appear in English. It introduces a fresh and distinctive voice in Eastern European poetry.

About the Author

Ana Blandiana was born in Transylvania in 1942. The first of her many collections of poetry, "First Person Plural", appeared in 1964. She has also published children's books, fiction and essays, and wrote a regular column in Bucharest's leading literary paper from 1974 to 1988. Forced into dissidence during the last years of the Ceau؛escu dictatorship, she has been active in politics since its overthrow in 1989. She founded the Civic Alliance, a non-party movement aiming to help come to terms with the communist past, in 1994.

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