Valery Oisteanu


Valery Oisteanu is a Soviet-born Romanian and American poet, art critic, essayist, photographer and performance artist, whose style reflects the influence of Dada and Surrealism. Oisteanu is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, a book of short fiction, and a book of essays. He is the brother of Romanian historian of religion, cultural anthropologist and writer Andrei Oișteanu.

Biography

Oisteanu was born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, raised and educated in Romania, where he is known as Valeriu Oișteanu. He graduated from the Department of Chemical Industry of the Politechnical Institute in Bucharest.
In 1970, Oisteanu made his literary debut in Romania with a collection of poems called Proteze. Due to his Jewish ancestry, the Communist regime allowed him to emigrate to New York City in 1972 or 1973, and he has been writing in English ever since.
Oisteanu adopted Dada and Surrealism as a philosophy of art and life. He appears regularly at poetry readings in various New York venues, where he presents original performances of Zen and Dada-inspired "jazzoetry". He is a freelance art critic and on the permanent staff of several arts magazines, including The Brooklyn Rail, NYArts, Rain Taxi, the Spanish publication art.es, and the Canadian magazine D'Art International. Oișteanu is a member of Poets and Writers Inc. in New York and the founder and president of PASS: Poets and Artists Surrealist Society.

Poetry written in English

Poetry written or translated to Romanian:
  • Proteze, Editura Litera, Bucharest, 1970
  • Poeme din Exil, Editura Paralela 45, Pitești, 2000
  • "Anarhie pentru Zile Negre" CDPL, Bucharest,2019
  • Privileges in Purgatory Itaca, Dublin,2020
  • Cit ai clipi dintr-al treilea ochi Editura MLR, Bucharest, 2023

Prose written in English