Big news from Tara Skurtu (Poetry ’13), who gave a TEDx Talk in Romania earlier this summer! Entitled “Unlearning Uncreativity,” the lecture took place at TEDxEroilor in Cluj, a city in the Transylvania region of Romania.
In addition, the Romanian translation of Tara’s book The Amoeba Game was recently published by one of Romania’s main publishing houses, Nemira. Tiberiu Neacșu and Radu Vancu translated her work.
Below, we’re excited to share her summer reading list, complete with blurbs from Tara herself. Many thanks, Tara, and hearty congratulations!
Tara Skurtu’s Summer Reading List
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
This debut novel, set in Nigeria, tells the journey of a marriage from both perspectives, navigating love, loyalty, betrayal, despair, and political tumult. I got so sucked into this novel I finished it in two sittings, and I read the last ten or so pages as slowly as I could because I didn’t want the story to to end.
Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
This was recommended to me by the manager of my favorite English bookshop in Bucharest, Carturesti & Friends (formerly Anthony Frost). It’s a beautifully introspective, poetic novel revolving around the thoughts of two characters who feel the need to free some sea turtles from the zoo.
Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart
I’ve been revisiting some of Bidart’s poems and discovering new ones in this gorgeous Pulitzer Prize-winning book of 650+ pages.
Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters (Library of America, edited by Robert Giroux & Lloyd Schwartz)
I bring this Elizabeth Bishop book with me everywhere I go (and it’s a hardback!). It’s like a little bible of sorts to me.
What I’m reading now:
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli (Translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre)
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli attempts to unravel the mysteries and meanings of time in this charming, easy-to-read book.
On my desk to read next:
Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle Allen
Another Language: A Selection of Poems by Eileen Chong
The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
