Category: Change Makers

My guest today is Diana Carligeanu, a talented writer and translator with a deep passion for bringing Romanian literature to a global audience. Her recent work, a carefully crafted translation of Mihai Eminescu’s Sonnets, offers English readers a rare glimpse into the soul of Romania’s national poet. With a keen eye for preserving both the musicality and emotional depth of Eminescu’s verses, she’s now setting her sights on translating Eminescu’s entire body of work, a monumental project that promises to share more of Romania’s literary treasures with the world.

She was kind enough to talk to me about the challenges of translating Eminescu’ poetry, and what lies ahead.

Today’s edition features Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck (1879–1969), a prominent Romanian painter and muralist who made significant contributions to the cultural and artistic landscape of Romania in the first half of the 20th century. Her legacy is not only tied to her artistic works but also to her role as a pioneering woman in Romanian art and her influence as an educator. Cuțescu-Storck was one of the first women to receive national and international recognition as an artist in Romania, breaking through a male-dominated field with a body of work that continues to be celebrated today. Tune in for a new story about inspiration meeting action.

My guest today is Monica Grecu, Director of Creative Content at NABU, an international organization dedicated to combating illiteracy. NABU has developed a groundbreaking application that empowers children by offering bilingual books, opening up new pathways to literacy and learning. Stay with us as we explore how this innovative tool is transforming the lives of children around the world, helping them unlock the power of reading.

In the aftermath of the elections that have been held in Romania recently, a survey was conducted on the political participation of the Roma community, commissioned by the National Democratic Institute and conducted by Transylvania Inquiry. The draft has been presented in Bucharest for an initial analysis, in the presence of the resident representative of NDI in Romania, the NDI Program Manager for Central and Eastern Europe and representatives of the Roma parties and communities in Romania. At the end of the event, the NDI Program Manager Nicole Patrick was kind enough to share with use some of the elements of the activity carried out by NDI in Romania and the program focusing specifically on the Roma community.

Romania’s capital Bucharest is hosting in two different spaces the exhibition Touch Nature, an artistic radiography of the effects of human intervention on the environment. The exhibition was created around a dialogue between the works of 35 artists from Austria and Romania and is a call to awareness about environmental issues.

RRI’s Eugen Cojocariu talked to one of the two curators of the exhibition, the Austrian art historian and curator Sabine Fellner, at the exhibition’s opening.