Dan Coman
(Romania, 1975)   
 
 
 
Dan Coman

Dan Coman was born on 27 July 1975 in Gersa. His first collection of poetry was anul cârtiței galbene (the year of the yellow mole), published in 2003; it was extremely well received and established him as a leading voice of his generation. Coman fronts the post-2000 new wave of Romanian poetry with his rough and visionary poems. 

Cosmin Borza writes in Asymptote:

In most of his texts, Dan Coman plays the role of a ‘chosen’ individual who exaggerates both his singular nature and his existential mediocrity. His incorporation of subjectivity in a continuous state of emergency, a hypersensitivity that cannot be expressed freely outside of writing, is more than a mere revival of the romantic myth of inspiration, since Coman’s lyrical discourse endlessly convulses metamorphoses of a singular concern: encountering his own interiority. In the form of a ‘yellow mole’ or of the titular character from Ghinga, this dread carries a similar strength. And such inner overflow from the existential void must be written down: ‘ . . . at wee hours I am pushed like a trolley at my desk / I am pushed to write/and while I write it turns as if it were in its grave’. 

After his debut Coman published ghinga (2005) and dicționarul mara (the mara dictionary, 2009). In 2004 he was awarded the Mihai Eminescu National Poetry Prize for a Debut, as well as the Debut Prize of the Romanian Writers Union. In 2010, he was awarded the Romania Cultural Radio Poetry Prize.

In 2011, he was the laureate of the Vilenica Crystal Prize, Slovenia. He has also published some well-received prose volumes: Irezistibil (Irresistible, 2010); Parohia (The parrish, 2012); and Căsnicie (Marriage, 2015).

His poems have been translated and published in anthologies and magazines from Romania, Sweden, France, USA, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and Canada.

© Radu Vancu

Bibliography

Poetry

anul cârtiței galbene (the year of the yellow mole),Timpul, 2003
ghinga, Vinea, 2005
dicționarul mara (the mara dictionary), Cartier, 2009

Prose
Irezistibil (Irresistible), Cartea Românească, 2010
Parohia (The parrish), Cartea Românească, 2012
Căsnicie (Marriage), Cartea Românească, 2015

Links
Feature by Cosmin Borza on contemporary Romanian poets, including Coman, in Asymptote
Profile on Poets in Transylvania
Video of Coman reading, alongside Katja Perat, Misumi Mizuki, Mile Stojić, Kiwao Nomura, Ilma Rakusa and Toon Tellegen, for ‘Days of Poetry & Wine’, 24 August 2012

 



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