Matéi Visniec
Matéi Visniec, born in Romania in 1956 during the communist utopia of the Ceausescu-Ubu Roi era, quickly discovered literature as a space for freedom and cultural resistance. He firmly believes that theater and poetry can expose the manipulation of people by “grand ideas” and the brainwashing of ideology. However, the regime could not tolerate his literature, full of allusions and critical metaphors, and forced him into exile in 1987. He sought political asylum in France and made the French language his second homeland. About thirty of his plays written in French have been published (Actes Sud-Papiers, Lansman, Espace d’un Instant, Non Lieu, L’œil du Prince), and his works have been translated and performed in around forty countries. Between 1990 and 2022, he worked as a journalist for Radio France Internationale, an experience that deeply influenced his writing. He is also the author of six novels, three of which have been translated into French. He has received numerous awards, including the European Prize of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (2009), the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature (2016), and several Press Prizes at the Festival d’Avignon (off).