Octav Pancu-Iași


Octav Pancu-Iași 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 and Bucharest. He worked as an editor for Romanian Radio, in film and with the Cutezatorii magazine. His writing career started in 1949 with a volume of poetry Timpul sta pe loc?. He published two novels: Marea batalie de la Iazul Mic and Cartea cu ochi albastri and wrote many stories for children. He also wrote the screenplays Vara romantică, Tată de duminică and Singurătatea florilor.
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, Călin Gruia, Gica Iuteș, Mircea Sântimbreanu 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.