The Romanian Cultural Institute in London is delighted to invite you to a compelling literary evening at Wembley Library,marking the London launch ofTwo Queens and a Chronicler, the latest novel by accomplished Romanian-American writerAlta Ifland.
The evening will feature a discussion with the author and will include live readings from the book and an interactive Q&A. Don't miss this rare chance to meet an innovativevoice in contemporary literature and discover a story where history, imagination, and identity meet!
BOOKINGS HEREAn imaginative and daring historical novel,Two Queens and a Chronicler is inspired by the lives of Romania’s queens, Elisabeta (1843-1916) - Elisabeth of Wied, known in literary circles as Carmen Sylva - and Marie (1875-1938) - granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Written entirely as a dialogue between three women - the two queens and their chronicler, the author herself - the novel enacts a conversation between the past and the present, during which the queens reflect on events both from their era and our time, politics, the two great wars, love, art, beauty, life, death, and other royals, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. One of them originally from Germany and the other from Great Britain, the two queens share something with their chronicler: they are immigrant female writers.
ALTA IFLAND was born and grew up in Communist Romania, where she was married to a dissident and declared “dangerous person for the security of the state” by Ceausescu. She moved to the US as a political refugee in 1991 and, after a PhD in French language and literature from the University of Florida, she taught for a brief period in academia (last academic position at Arizona State University), then freelanced as a book reviewer and literary translator. She is the author of two collections of prose poems (Voix de glace/Voice of ice - bilingual, self-translated from French, 2008 Louis Guillaume Prize andThe Snail’s Song) and two books of short stories (Elegy for a Fabulous World - 2010 finalist, Northern California Book Award andDeath-in-a-Box - 2010 Subito Press Fiction Prize of the University of Colorado). Ifland’s novels,The Wife Who Wasn’t - a satirical comedy about Moldovans versus Californians in a post-Communist world - andSpeaking to No. 4 - a psychological mystery about a vanished woman that takes place in France, Japan and the United States - were published by New Europe Books in 2021 and 2022. Ifland has also published translations from French into English (Raymond Queneau, Marguerite Duras, Lorand Gaspar), from English into French (W. S. Merwin), and Romanian to English (Norman Manea and Mariana Marin). After 30 years of life in the US, Ifland now lives in France.
This event concludes our year-long programme celebrating150 years since the birth of Queen Marie of Romania, and is specially dedicated to the Romanian diaspora in the UK,taking place in Brent, one of London’s most diverse and vibrant boroughs - home to a thriving Romanian community and a welcoming space for cultural dialogue. Organised in partnership with Wembley Library and Brent Council.
Free entry, book signing after the event.???? Books available for purchase on-site.
