Journalist, art critic, translator and writer, member of the Writers' Union of Moldova. Together with her husband, Valeriu Turea, she published „Cartea foametei” [The Book of the Famine], a documentary record of the famine in Bessarabia.
Larisa Turea, born on 29 February 1952 in the village of Călinești, Fălești district, Republic of Moldova, is a journalist, art critic, translator and writer. She is a member of the Writers’ Union of Moldova and president of the Moldovan section of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT/IATC).
Childhood and education
Larisa Turea was born on 29 February 1952 in the village of Călinești, Fălești district, into the family of two teachers: Nestor Turea, a teacher of physics and mathematics, and Olimpia Pleșca (née Batâr), a teacher of geography and biology.
In 1969 she graduated with a gold medal from the school in the village of Cuhnești, Glodeni district, after which she was admitted to the Faculty of Philology, Journalism Section, of the State University of Chișinău. She completed her university studies in 1974, Magna Cum Laude.
In 1995 she received a scholarship from the Government of France under the „Courants d’Est” programme, organised by the Ministry of Culture of France and the Observatory of Cultural Policies in Grenoble. She later took part in two international placements: in 2003 at the Remarque Institute of New York University, and in 2006 at the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Professional career
Her career in journalism began in 1973 at the daily newspaper Moldova Socialistă. In 1977 she moved to the magazine Moldova, where she worked first as an editor and then as head of the Arts and Literature Section.
Between 1987 and 1992 she was editor-in-chief of the film magazine Lanterna magică, and subsequently led the culture and arts magazine Sud-Est.
Between 1992 and 1994 she held the post of Deputy Minister of Culture at the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs of the Republic of Moldova.
From 2000 to 2008 she worked as literary secretary of the „Mihai Eminescu” National Theatre in Chișinău, where she founded Gazeta Teatrului Național. From 2008 to 2009 she held the post of literary secretary of the „Eugene Ionesco” Theatre.
Alongside her work in publishing and the theatre, Larisa Turea has also had a substantial teaching career. Between 1993 and 2000 she worked with the Sociology Department of the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (ASEM), and between 1995 and 2008, intermittently, she was a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the State University of Moldova, where she taught the special course in literary journalism „De la Eminescu și Caragiale la Ionesco”. Her former students include Liliana Armașu, Sorina Ștefârță, Tamara Carauș and Alina Chiriac-Ivașcu.
Literary work
Larisa Turea made her debut as a poet in 1967 in the magazine Moldova, and later published in the magazine Cultura Moldovei (August 1969).
Her first book, Portrete în relief, appeared in 1987 at the Cartea Moldovenească publishing house in Chișinău. In 1991, together with her husband, Valeriu Turea, she published the first edition of Cartea foametei [The Book of the Famine], a work that became one of the most important documentary contributions on the organised famine in Bessarabia in 1946–1947.
Publications
Books
- Portrete în relief, Cartea Moldovenească, Chișinău, 1987
- Cartea foametei, Universitas, Chișinău, 1991
- Cartea foametei, second edition, revised, Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2008
Cartea foametei, fourth edition, revised, Cartier, Chișinău.
Studies, essays and articles
- „Considerații privind memoria culturală și colectivă (cu referire la schimbările de mentalitate induse de înfometarea populației din R.S.S. Moldovenească în anii 1946–1947)”, in the volume Sfârșitul regimurilor comuniste. Cauze, desfășurare și consecințe, Argonaut, Cluj-Napoca, 2011
- „Îmblânzitorii de lei în teatrul basarabean” (Lion Tamers in the Bessarabian Theatre), in the volume Das rumänische Theater nach 1989. Seine Beziehungen zum deutschsprachigen Raum, Frank & Timme Publishers, Berlin, 2010
- „Portret de grup cu Sf. Nicolae”, a monodrama, in the anthology Dramaturgi basarabeni de astăzi, Teatrul Azi publishing house and the Camil Petrescu Foundation, Bucharest, 2008
- Cartea foametei, staged reading, directed by Alexandru Cozub, Playwriting Workshop of the „Mihai Eminescu” National Theatre, February 2009
- „The Moldavian Theatre”, in The Korean Theatre Magazine, no. 4, 2006
- Dimensiunea culturală a dezvoltării / Cultural Dimension of Development, Institute for Public Policy, Chișinău, 2003
- „Peur, terreur, bonheur”, in the volume Angoisses, rêves et espoirs d’Europe, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, France, 2000
- „Cultură și competență civilizatorie”, in Caiete critice, no. 9–12, Bucharest, 1998
- articles on modern theatre in Enciclopedia Chișinău
- „Actors in Republic of Moldova”, in The Slovak Theatre, vol. 45, no. 4, Bratislava, 1997
The short anthology La littérature bessarabienne, Missives, Paris, March 1995.
Honours and awards
Prize of the Union of Journalists of the Republic of Moldova for the best book of 1992, awarded for the volume Cartea foametei.
Memberships
- member of the Union of Journalists of Moldova (since 1978)
- member of the Theatre Union of Moldova (since 1991)
- member of the League of Critics (since 1991)
- member of the Council for Cultural Co-operation of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 1994–1996)
- member of the Writers’ Union of Moldova (since 1998)