Octav Pancu-Iași (14 April 1929 – 16 April 1975) was a leading Romanian novelist and children's writer. Born Octav Pancu, he later added the name of his hometown to his surname.

Biography

The son of Basil Pancu, a civil servant, he attended schools in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. He worked as an editor for Romanian Radio (1947–58), in film (1959–62) and with the Cutezatorii magazine (1967–69). His writing career started in 1949 with a volume of poetry ''Timpul sta pe loc?'' (Does Time Stand Still?). He published two novels: (The Sea Battle of the Little Pond, 1953) and ''Cartea cu ochi albastri'' (Book with Blue Eyes, 1959) and wrote many stories for children. He also wrote the screenplays ''Vara romantică'' (Romantic Summer, 1961), ''Tată de duminică'' (Sunday Father, 1975) and ''Singurătatea florilor'' (Flowers of Loneliness, 1976). Pancu-Iași's works have been translated into several languages, especially German and Czech but not English. The literary magazine ''Observator Cultural'' listed him as one of the leading writers of children's literature in Romania, among others such as

Dumitru Almaș Dumitru Almaș (; pen name of Dumitru Ailincăi ; October 19, 1908 – March 12, 1995) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, historian, writer and professor. His prolific output included children's literature, historical novels and textbooks. He ...

Călin Gruia Călin Gruia (; born Chiril Gurduz ; March 21, 1915 – July 9, 1989) was a Romanian writer, author mainly of children's fairy tales and poems. Born in Trifești, Orhei County, in the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire, from 1918 ...

, Gica Iuteș,

Mircea Sântimbreanu Mircea Sântimbreanu (January 7, 1926 – August 19, 1999) was a Romanian writer, journalist, screenwriter and film producer. Sântimbreanu was the director of the publishing house Albatros, and is best remembered as a writer of children's literat ...

and Ovidiu Zotta. He died of a heart attack in Bucharest when he was only 46.

Selected works

Octav Pancu-Iași's principal works in Romanian are listed below. A complete list of publications including all translations is available from the

European Library The European Library is an Internet service that allows access to the resources of 49 European national libraries and an increasing number of research libraries. Searching is free and delivers metadata records as well as digital objects, mostly ...

. *1949: , poetry *1951: *1951: *1952: *1953: , novel *1956: , children's stories *1956: *1957: (dramatized in 1959) *1958: *1959: , novel *1960: *1963: *1964: *1967: *1968: *1970: , children's stories *1972: *1972: *1977:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pancu-Iasi, Octav Writers from Bucharest 1929 births 1975 deaths