The Security Guard at Night
The Security Guard at Night
The Poetry of Emil-Iulian Sude
The work of a Roma poet (one of the first to win a significant award in Romania) these poems seem to arise from a place pitched deep within and then to traverse social strata, mapping statuses. They note the many affronts to the fullness of being and glory in every trace of found beauty. This collection might be seen as a deconstruction, in the purest sense, of dehumanization, one that locates the life of the spirit and, despite all, bends toward radiance.
Emil-Iulian Sude is one of the first award-winning poets of Roma ethnicity in Romania. He has published five collections of poems, starting with Scărarul (The Ladder Maker, Grinta, 2014), which was translated into Hebrew by Menachem M. Falek and published in Israel (Zur-Ot, 2014). Paznic de noapte (The Security Guard at Night) was originally published by Casa Cărţilor in 2023 with Diana Manole as book editor. It won the “Ion Zubașcu” prize at the 2023 Sighet International Poetry Festival. In 2024, it was also published in France, under the title, Veilleur de nuit, by Éditions Maïa, translated by Gabrielle Sava. Sude’s poetry has earned him twenty awards and distinctions, including first place in the “Bronislawa Wajs” International Contest of Literary Creation and Translation, celebrating the centenary of the Roma (1919–2019). He also placed fourth in the 2018 manuscript competition, organized by the Centrul Național de Cultură a Romilor – Romano Kehr (National Centre for Roma Culture—Romano Kehr) in collaboration with the Romanian government. Sude was also awarded a Diploma of Excellence at the 2018 Roma Excellence Gala for his “remarkable contribution to the development and promotion of Roma culture and identity.” The Security Guard at Night is his first book in English.