Ion Crețu was born in Bărbulețu, Romania, and grew up and was educated in Alba Iulia. He graduated from Universității Babeș-Bolyai in Cluj with a degree in French in 1965 and worked for a time at Meridiane Publishing House. From 1973 to 1976 he studied toward a Ph. D. in Romance Languages at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, teaching both Romanian and French under a teaching assistantship while he studied. In the summer of 1976 he returned to Bucharest, Romania, to visit his parents and was denied permission to leave and return to the United States. During the ensuing years of living under the Communist regime of Nicolai Ceausescu, he was unable to do little more than occasional factory work, as he found himself blacklisted by the government from teaching positions, though he found ways to protest through writing. Shortly before the 1989 overthrow of the government, he was framed and arrested for possession of American currency and conducted a hunger strike before his release.
After 1989, Crețu's literary career blossomed. He wrote and published numerous articles of literary criticism and translated several works of literature from English, Spanish, and French to Romanian, and from Romanian to English. From 1996 to 2006 he had a regular column on world literature in the magazine Luceafarul, and he published in most of the other literary magazines in Romania. In 2009 his own novel Călătorul was published, followed by his collection of poems Testament just prior to his death in 2014. He received the Laurenţiu Ulici Award for his criticism of Viciu nepedepsit (Unpunished Vice) in 2002.
Ion Creţu spent the latter years of his life in Alba Iulia, where he established the Călătorul monetary award to be given to a debuting writer each year after his death. The Writers' Association of Alba Iulia presents the award each January on the anniversary of his birth.
Creţu was a member of the Romanian Writers' Union, which published the following in his memorial: "The death of Ion Creţu represents a real loss for the literary life in Romania." While this is true, his death represents a greater loss for his friends, who miss his intellect, his curiosity, his keen powers of observation, his humor, and the loyalty and generosity of his friendship.
After 1989, Crețu's literary career blossomed. He wrote and published numerous articles of literary criticism and translated several works of literature from English, Spanish, and French to Romanian, and from Romanian to English. From 1996 to 2006 he had a regular column on world literature in the magazine Luceafarul, and he published in most of the other literary magazines in Romania. In 2009 his own novel Călătorul was published, followed by his collection of poems Testament just prior to his death in 2014. He received the Laurenţiu Ulici Award for his criticism of Viciu nepedepsit (Unpunished Vice) in 2002.
Ion Creţu spent the latter years of his life in Alba Iulia, where he established the Călătorul monetary award to be given to a debuting writer each year after his death. The Writers' Association of Alba Iulia presents the award each January on the anniversary of his birth.
Creţu was a member of the Romanian Writers' Union, which published the following in his memorial: "The death of Ion Creţu represents a real loss for the literary life in Romania." While this is true, his death represents a greater loss for his friends, who miss his intellect, his curiosity, his keen powers of observation, his humor, and the loyalty and generosity of his friendship.
Ion Crețu was born in Bărbulețu, Romania, and grew up and was educated in Alba Iulia. He graduated from Universității Babeș-Bolyai in Cluj with a degree in French in 1965 and worked for a time at Meridiane Publishing House. From 1973 to 1976 he studied toward a Ph. D. in Romance Languages at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, teaching both Romanian and French under a teaching assistantship while he studied. In the summer of 1976 he returned to Bucharest, Romania, to visit his parents and was denied permission to leave and return to the United States. During the ensuing years of living under the Communist regime of Nicolai Ceausescu, he was unable to do little more than occasional factory work, as he found himself blacklisted by the government from teaching positions, though he found ways to protest through writing. Shortly before the 1989 overthrow of the government, he was framed and arrested for possession of American currency and conducted a hunger strike before his release.
After 1989, Crețu's literary career blossomed. He wrote and published numerous articles of literary criticism and translated several works of literature from English, Spanish, and French to Romanian, and from Romanian to English. From 1996 to 2006 he had a regular column on world literature in the magazine Luceafarul, and he published in most of the other literary magazines in Romania. In 2009 his own novel Călătorul was published, followed by his collection of poems Testament just prior to his death in 2014. He received the Laurenţiu Ulici Award for his criticism of Viciu nepedepsit (Unpunished Vice) in 2002.
Ion Creţu spent the latter years of his life in Alba Iulia, where he established the Călătorul monetary award to be given to a debuting writer each year after his death. The Writers' Association of Alba Iulia presents the award each January on the anniversary of his birth.
Creţu was a member of the Romanian Writers' Union, which published the following in his memorial: "The death of Ion Creţu represents a real loss for the literary life in Romania." While this is true, his death represents a greater loss for his friends, who miss his intellect, his curiosity, his keen powers of observation, his humor, and the loyalty and generosity of his friendship.
After 1989, Crețu's literary career blossomed. He wrote and published numerous articles of literary criticism and translated several works of literature from English, Spanish, and French to Romanian, and from Romanian to English. From 1996 to 2006 he had a regular column on world literature in the magazine Luceafarul, and he published in most of the other literary magazines in Romania. In 2009 his own novel Călătorul was published, followed by his collection of poems Testament just prior to his death in 2014. He received the Laurenţiu Ulici Award for his criticism of Viciu nepedepsit (Unpunished Vice) in 2002.
Ion Creţu spent the latter years of his life in Alba Iulia, where he established the Călătorul monetary award to be given to a debuting writer each year after his death. The Writers' Association of Alba Iulia presents the award each January on the anniversary of his birth.
Creţu was a member of the Romanian Writers' Union, which published the following in his memorial: "The death of Ion Creţu represents a real loss for the literary life in Romania." While this is true, his death represents a greater loss for his friends, who miss his intellect, his curiosity, his keen powers of observation, his humor, and the loyalty and generosity of his friendship.
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