Growing up in communist Romania, under the shadow of the Holocaust, WW2, The Bomb, and the Iron Curtain, Ana Doina's life was shaped by the Cold War and the search for political and individual freedom, all but forbidden in a totalitarian regime. In her twenties, forced by political, social, and ethnic persecutions, she left Romania, immigrating to the United States. As the inheritor of that tormented past, she is embracing the poetry as witness tradition of writing to explore the lament and the wisdom left us by the tumult of the twentieth century, thus bearing witness to it not only through dates and events but also through emotional, communal, and deeply personal images. Being an emigrant/immigrant poet, Ana writes about her personal experiences of losing and finding the elusive at-home state of awareness humans need in order to live and thrive. Although autobiographical,
Legend of Bread
reaches out to everyone interested in how place, language, and history are formative elements in the making of a multifaceted identity. The book hopes to foster a dialog with those trying to understand the experience of exiles, political refugees, emigrants; and with the children of immigrants living with the consequences of the history that gave birth to this story.
"Ana Doina's
, filters life through a hastily manufactured Communist Revolution, and a well-executed
Marshall Plan leading us to humanity that will never be undone. Her poems gleam with the energetic use of her
second language's texture, rich and rewarding with memory and relevance, with departures, burials, and returns. Readers
will thank her for her stubborn belief in her story and the story of untold millions."
-Maria Lisella, Academy of American Poets Fellow, author of
Thieves in the Family
*****
Legacy Book Press LLC is a traditional publisher of personal stories told via non-fiction (like memoir), autobiographical fiction, poetry, or a combination.