Octav Pancu-Iași

Octav Pancu-Iași (14 April 1929 – 16 April 1975) was a leading Romanian novelist and children's writer. Born Octav Pancu, he later added the name of his hometown to his surname.

Biography The son of Basil Pancu, a civil servant, he attended schools in Iași and Bucharest. He worked as an editor for Romanian Radio (1947–58), in film (1959–62) and with the Cutezatorii magazine (1967–69). His writing career started in 1949 with a volume of poetry Timpul sta pe loc? (Does Time Stand Still?). He published two novels: (The Great Battle of the Little Pond, 1953) and Cartea cu ochi albastri (The Book with Blue Eyes, 1959) and wrote many stories for children.

Pancu-Iași's works have been translated into several languages, especially German and Czech but not English. The literary magazine Observator Cultural listed him as one of the leading writers of children's literature in Romania, among others such as Dumitru Almaș, Călin Gruia, Gica Iuteș, Mircea Sântimbreanu and Ovidiu Zotta.

He died of a heart attack in Bucharest when he was only 46.

Selected works Octav Pancu-Iași's principal works in Romanian are listed below. A complete list of publications including all translations is available from the European Library.

1949: , poetry 1951: 1951: 1952: 1953: , novel 1956: , children's stories 1956: 1957: (dramatized in 1959) 1958: 1959: , novel 1960: 1963: 1964: 1967: 1968: 1970: , children's stories 1972: 1972: 1977: