Mircea Opriță


Mircea Opriță is a Romanian writer, editor, essayist, critic, historian and translator of science fiction literature. Mircea Opriță is a prominent figure in the Romanian sci-fi literary environment, at the peak of a six-decade career.

Biography

Between 1961 and 1966, he attended the Faculty of Philology at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj.
He collaborated with the magazines Steaua, Tribuna , Vatra, Helion, Helion Online, etc.
He obtained his doctorate in universal and comparative literature, with the thesis Discursul utopic, 1999, published with the same title in 2000. Between 1972 and 1999 he worked as a book editor at Dacia publishing house in Cluj. Between 1994 – 1996 and 2002 – 2006 he held the position of Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest. He was President of the Romanian Association of Science Fiction Clubs and Authors and a member of the Writers' Union Council and Steering Committee.

Debut

He made his debut with the poem Cântec pentru rachetă, in the Cluj newspaper Făclia.
He debuted in science fiction in 1964 in the magazine Viața studențească with the story Un cântec din Aldebaran, in a competition organized by the editors with the theme "How do you see our planet in the 21st century?"
His first volume of science fiction stories, Întîlnire cu meduza, was published in 1966.
Mircea Opriță is the author of the anthology Cea mai bună dintre lumi and he collaborated with writer Herbert W. Franke on the German-language anthology .

Works

Întîlnire cu meduza, Tineretului Publishing House, 1966, science-fiction storiesArgonautica, science-fiction parody novel, Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, 1970 Planeta părăsită, theater play, series for puppets, County Committee for Culture and Art, Puppet Theater Cluj, 1971Viața într-o floare, theater for youth, County Center for guidance of popular creation and mass artistic movement, Cluj, 1972Jocul cu vipere, verses, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1972Nopțile memoriei, short stories, Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, 1973Adevărul despre himere, short stories, Cartea Românească Publishing House, Bucharest, 1976Păsărea de lut, novel, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1976Figurine de ceară, short stories, with a foreword by Ion Hobana, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1978Semnul licornului, short stories, Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, 1980Cina cea mai lungă, novel, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1983HG Wells: Utopia modernă, critical essay, Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, 1983Judecătorii, a story in the anthology Return to the Blue Planet, 1989Anticipația românească. Un capitol de istorie literară, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1994

Translator

Literary awards and distinctions

  • The Writers' Union Award, Nopțile memoriei, 1973 ;
  • The Cluj Writers' Association Awards for the works: H. G. Wells: Utopia modernă, 1983, Anticipația românească, 1994, Discursul utopic, 2000 ;
  • The Ion Agârbiceanu Award, for the novel Călătorie în Capricia, 2011