Ion Cristofor

Ion Cristofor was born in Romania in 1952. He is a poet, literary critic, and translator with a doctorate in Romanian literature. He is former editor of Echinox journal and a member of the leading literary circle of the same name. He has published over twenty books of poetry and essays, some of which have been translated into Italian, German, French, and Catalan. In addition to his many awards in his native Romania, Cristofor has received the University of Freiburg’s Publication Prize and an honorary diploma of membership from the Romanian-Israeli Cultural Centre in Haifa, Israel. Authors he has translated into Romanian include Tahashi Arima, Alain Petre, Alain Jadot, Paul Emond, Philippe Jones, and Liliane Wouters. He has translated, coordinated, and edited anthologies of poetry from Japan and Tunisia.

He belongs to Romania’s leading literary current of confessional poets, the Echinox group, who endured the harshest part of the communist regime and witnessed and wrote about the events preceding and following the 1989 Revolution. “I’m certain I wouldn’t have been a writer had I been born elsewhere.”
Though he is no stranger to postmodern techniques, these are incorporated into metaphorical discourse, sumptuous and imaginative, solemn and grave, comments Petru Poantă, while Cristofor’s use of irony has a Romantic essence, never relaxing into parody.

Reviews of Ion Cristofor’s poetry
Ion Cristofor’s poetry is grave and troubled, but never sombre … The naturalness of his poetry invites reflection and redemption, a recalibration of existential fact. Irina Petraș
His entire cultural and poetic journey places him in that category of poets who are unique and identifiable through their remarkable creations. Dan Marius Drăgan 
Ion Cristofor is one of the most valuable poets hailing from the prestigious Echinox group of the 1980s. […] He is, however, a poet of late modernity, a mannerist and an aesthete. […] The poet is no stranger to postmodern techniques, but they are incorporated into metaphorical discourse, sumptuous and imaginative, solemn and grave. […] Irony, when it is used, has a Romantic essence, it never relaxes into parody or gratuitous lucidity. Petru Poantă
Cristofor’s poetry is a mixture of metaphorical lyricism and postmodern irony which seeks to desecrate. Adina Dinițoiu 
Ion Cristofor’s first stylistic quality is originality. It is comprised of the transposition of traditional values in an urban realm and in a dying world. As in Indian mythology, this universe heads towards the end of a cycle of time, kaliyuga. In the poet’s vision, we are situated in the age of iron – the very last. Lucian Gruia
Poetry collections
O picătură de sânge/una gota de sangre Grinta Publishing House (2019), Romania. Bilingual edition [Spanish]
Am rand der kaffeetasse, Dionysus Publishing House (2018), Germany, bilingual edition [German].
Gramofonul de pământ. Editura Limes Publishing House, (2014), Romania
Sărbătoare la ospiciu. Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă Publishing House, (2004), Romania.
Cronica stelelor, Editura Scoala Ardeleana Publishing House, (2017), Romania
Nopti de jazz, Grinta Publishing House, (2015), Romania, bilingual edition [French]
Viata de rezerva, Editura Napoca Star, 2018