Carmen Firan, a poet and fiction writer, has published twenty volumes of poetry, novels, essays, and short stories in her native Romania. Since 2000, Firan has lived in New York, first as part of Romania’s cultural diplomatic service. Read More   Andrei Codrescu has written, "Carmen Firan is a part of a long tradition in some European countries and Latin America, of poets who are active in public life and represent their countries abroad. The names of St. John-Perse, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz, come quickly to mind." Her writings have appeared in translation in numerous literary magazines and anthologies in France, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Canada, and the U.K., as well as the U.S. Recent books and publications here include The Second Life (short stories—Columbia University Press, 2005), The Farce (novel—Spuyten Duyvil, 2003,) In The Most Beautiful Life (poems with photographs—Umbrage Editions, New York, 2002), and three other books of poetry: Afternoon With An Angel, The First Moment After Death, and Accomplished Error. In 2006, with Paul Doru Mugur and Edward Foster, she edited Born in Utopia: An Anthology of Romanian Contemporary Poetry (Talisman House). In 2008, she published a book of fiction and essays, Words & Flesh (Talisman House). Her Rock and Dew is forthcoming from Sheep Meadow Press.