Mihail Sebastian was the pen-name of the Romanian writer Iosif Hechter. Born in the Danube port of Braila, he died in a road accident in 1945. During the period between the wars he was well-known for his lyrical and ironic plays and for urbane psychological novels tinged with melancholy, as well as for his extraordinary literary essays. His novel For Two Thousand Years is a Penguin Modern Classic. Gabi Reigh's translations and fiction have been published in Modern Poetry in Translation, World Literature Today and The Fortnightly Review. She has won the Stephen Spender prize for poetry in translation and was shortlisted for the Tom-Gallon Society of Authors short story award. She is currently engaged in a translation project called Interbellum Series focusing on works from the Romanian interwar period, including the poetry of Lucian Blaga. Gabi was awarded the English Pen Translates Award in 2019 for her translation of Milhail Sebastian's The Town with Acacia Trees which was published by Aurora Metro Books and has received a Kirkus Blue Star review. She has also translated Sebastian's hit play The Star with no Name also published by Aurora Metro Books 2020. Gabi Reigh's translations and fiction have been published in Modern Poetry in Translation, World Literature Today and The Fortnightly Review. She has won the Stephen Spender prize for poetry in translation and was shortlisted for the Tom-Gallon Society of Authors short story award. She is currently engaged in a translation project called Interbellum Series focusing on works from the Romanian interwar period, including the poetry of Lucian Blaga. Gabi was awarded the English Pen Translates Award in 2019 for her translation of Milhail Sebastian's The Town with Acacia Trees which was published by Aurora Metro Books and has received a Kirkus Blue Star review. She has also translated Sebastian's hit play The Star with no Name also published by Aurora Metro Books 2020. Radu Ioanid is the Director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's International Archival Programs Division and the author of several books on Romanian history and the Holocaust, including The Holocaust in Romania and The Ransom of the Jews: The Story of the Extraordinary Secret Bargain Between Romania and Israel. He earned his first doctorate at the University of Cluj, Romania, and his second at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France. From 2018 onwards he is an Associate Professor at Political Science Department, University of Cluj. From 2003-4 he served as the Vice-President for the International Commission for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, chaired by Elie Wiesel. In 2006 Ioanid received the distinguished rank of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, conferred by the French Minister of Culture; promoted in 2014 Officier des Arts et des Lettres. He received the 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award, Europe-Best Regional Non-Fiction, GOLD (tie) for his book The Iasi Pogrom, June-July 1941, A Photo Documentary from the Holocaust in Romania , (Indiana University Press, 2017). Cheryl Robson has edited over 50 titles across fiction, non-fiction and work in translation, winning awards and nominations.
