Calancea Lilia
Main achievement
Writer. Her work has a powerful social impact.
About
Lilia Calancea was born on September 13, 1977, in Strășeni, Republic of Moldova, and graduated from the "Alexei Mateevici" Pedagogical College in Chișinău in 1997, followed by the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Free International University of Moldova in 2002. She continued her studies with a master's degree at the European Institute of High International Studies in Nice, France (2003), and another in translation at the Higher Institute for Translators and Interpreters in Brussels, Belgium (2004). A member of the Writers' Union of the Republic of Moldova, she has been based in Brussels since 2003, but remains anchored in Moldovan literature through works that explore deep themes such as collective memory, post-Soviet transition, and historical trauma. Her literary career is marked by novels such as *Regina nopții* (Pontos, 2014), *Sub Constelația Lyrei* (Arc, 2017), *Sunt oare un călău?* (Polirom, 2022-2023, laureate of the High School Students' Prize at FILIT 2023, the National Prize for Prose of the *Ziarul de Iași* 2023, and nominated for the Sofia Nădejde and the Writers' Union Awards), *Alionușka* (Polirom, 2023, nominated for the Leibniz Prizes 2024), and the short prose volume *Bocete de nuntă* (Arc, 2019, nominated for the Writers' Union Awards). Recently, she published *Hora Înfometaților* (Polirom, 2026), dedicated to the famine in Moldova during 1946-1947, and the fictionalized biography *Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu. 320 de pisici în Cimitirul Bellu* (2025), collaborating with publishing houses such as Polirom, Arc, and Pontos. Although settled abroad, Lilia Calancea maintains close ties with the Republic of Moldova through participation in literary festivals, book launches in Chișinău, and podcasts about local history and literature. Her personal life remains discreet in public sources, but her education in Moldovan contexts and her European experience have shaped a prose sensitive to social upheavals, reflecting the maturation of a post-Soviet generation and universal ethical questions.
