QR self-portrait
my pen name is (for now) yigru zeltil. i love the waves/
i write poetry/
sometimes i also write literary and art exhibition
reviews/
some consider me smart, others think i am an arrogant,
pretentious hipster. maybe not misunderstandings, certainly
overreactions. beyond being weird in a socially acceptable way, i
try to not take things personally, what i do care for are
arguments/
(photo credit: D.)
as for a more professional introduction:
Born in 1992, Constanța, Romania; currently residing in
Bucharest. Studies in Romanian and Portuguese languages and
literatures. Writing since 2007; debut in the literary press with
poems simultaneously in the magazines Tomis and Agora, 2010;
poetry, prose, articles, literary, arts, and music criticism in
publications such as ARTA, Cultura, Echinox, Poesis International,
Vatra, and others; formerly a member of the translation collective
Traducerile de sâmbătă; currently a member of the queer poets'
circle Cenaclul X.
official published books:
poetry:
- cacao (2012, Tracus Arte publishing house, Bucharest) -- title means in Romanian ”cocoa";
- ulei de palmier (2017, Tracus Arte) -- ”ulei de palmier” (a full self-translation is available on demand via email inquiry: yigruzeltilXATXgmail.com; the Romanian edition has been featured in Mihai Iovănel's „Istoria literaturii române contemporane. 1990-2020” (”History of Contemporary Romanian Literature”) as one of the 80 representative poetry volumes of the last 3 decades in Romanian poetry);
- praline. 2007-2022 (2022, Irizor publishing house, Onești).
others:
- A Bibliography of Conceptual Writing (2017, English, khora impex/Lulu.com print-on-demand; featured in the Library of Artistic Print on Demand collection, research by Andreas Bülhoff and Annette Gilbert of Free University of Berlin/University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)
unofficial books:
- cartea albastră (2013, 10 handmade paper copies, binding by Alina Pachițanu);
- țeaiul ros (2014, 5 handmade copies, binding by Alina Pachițanu);
- țeaiul vierde (2014, 5 handmade copies, binding by Alina Pachițanu);
- selected minimal poems (2016-2020; English, scribd);
- VERSURI (2018; khora impex);
- scrap(py)book (2019; English, khora impex);
- etc.
translations (no book yet):
- selected texts by Gertrude Stein, Marcel Duchamp, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, José de Almada Negreiros, José Gomes Ferreira, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, António Maria Lisboa, Alexandre O’Neill, Jorge de Sena, António Ramos Rosa, Paulo Leminski, Fiama Hasse Pais Brandão, Herberto Hélder, Ruy Belo, Al Berto, Alberto Pimenta, Carlos Alberto Machado, Manuel de Freitas, Nuno Brito, David Antin, Bruce Andrews, Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein, Audre Lorde, CAConrad, Miles Walser, Alok Vaid-Menon, Aaron Apps, cxxxxxxxx, Kenneth Goldsmith, Chris Sylvester, Michael Valinsky, Joey Yearous-Algozin;
- Ulises Carrión, „Noua artă de a face cărți”, Prăvălia Culturală.
anthologies:
- Alertă de grad zero în proza scurtă românească actuală (2011, antlg.: Igor Ursenco, Herg Benet publishing house, Bucharest; ”Zero degree alert in current Romanian short prose”);
- Cele mai frumoase poeme din 2012 (2013, antlg.: Claudiu Komartin, Radu Vancu; Tracus Arte; ”Most Beautiful Poems of 2012”);
- Adăposturi: antologie queer (2021, an anthology of queer literature by Cenaclul X group; printed by frACTalia, Bucharest).
participations:
- PosterXpoem (artist Miruna Modîlcă Belgun has made a poster based on one of my poems, ”Floreasca”, which was displayed at the Metropolitan Library of Bucharest and the famous Cărturești Verona bookstore);
- Literatură și Feminism (presentation of the play „Gen, roz” by Mihaela Michailov & comp., Replika Educational Theatre Centre);
- Contrar așteptărilor / Against Expectations. A queer literature festival (2022, Triumf Amiria Muzeul Culturii Queer[?]/MozaiQ @ Goethe-Institut Bucharest).
brief statement:
As an autistic queer poet who could afford, thanks to my
parents, the privilege to read, write, and study for several years
at my own pace, I've developed a passionate, yet also reflexive
literary practice, rooted in modern and avant-garde poetry, while
informed by more recent developments in literature as well.
My poems reflect interest in critical theory, as well as
awareness of a largely de-institutionalized literary milieu, in
which poetry either tends to be treated as a mere countercultural
lifestyle accessory, or there is a strong tendency to reject
experimentation under the guise of promoting "authenticism".
The hybrid poetry I practice tends, at once, to both respond
to demands for sincerity - in other words, I don't avoid including
autobiographical content - and impose frustrations on such a
limited horizon of expectations, by foregrounding that language is
never truly transparent, exceeding any supposed "mastery", and by
alternating more minimal compositions with sometimes unfashionable
amounts of tropes.
In my literary activity, I have endorsed experimental writing
and queer feminist poetry, kinds of writing which are still
considered marginal in Romanian literature, as vital developments
to broadening the literary field and our minds as well. We're
living in an unjust society and a broken literary system, marred by
conservatism, and upholding the status quo is not my choice.
