Ionuț Caragea (; born April 12, 1975) is a Romanian writer living in Oradea, Romania. Romanian literary critics see him as one of the leaders of the 2000 poetic generation (some critics even considered him the undisputed leader of this generation)A.I.Brumaru în revista Vatra Veche, nr. 11 din 2020, Rostirile ființei: "prodigiosul, aș spune, vârf al promoției 2000" / A.I.Brumaru in Vatra Veche magazine, no. 11 of 2020, page 31, Rostirile fiinţei: "the prodigious, I would say, peak of the 2000 promotion"Theodor Codreanu: "Și în acest mod, Ionuț Caragea confirmă aprecierea lui Daniel Corbu că ne aflăm în fața unui lider de generație", în ziarul Crișana din Oradea, nr. din 28 decembrie 2020 / Theodor Codreanu: "And in this way, Ionuț Caragea confirms Daniel Corbu's assessment that we are facing a leader of a generation", in the newspaper Crișana from Oradea, December 28, 2020Daniel Corbu: "Ionuț Caragea, lider de necontestat al generației sale poetice" / Daniel Corbu: "Ionuț Caragea, the indisputable leader of his generation", ziarul de Iași, 2 oct. 2018Emilian Marcu: "Ionuț Caragea s-a impus în lumea scriitorilor, dar și a scrisului, situîndu-se chiar în prima linie a generației sale" / "Ionuț Caragea, in the very first line of his generation", Convorbiri literare, 21 dec. 2018Corneliu Leu in the Iasi newspaper, no. from Oct. 2, 2018 ("ne aflăm în fața unui autor care are ceva de spus și, stăpân pe niște mijloace moderne de exprimare ale unor inedite stări poetice, va mai avea încă de spus impunându-și registrul poetic asupra generației sale"/ a master in modern means of expression of some new poetic states, ...... he will impose his poetic register on his generation)Daniel Corbu, Mişcarea literară, March 2017, pag. 33, (Ionuț Caragea, "unul dintre liderii generaţiei poetice doimiste"/ Ionuț Caragea, one of the leaders of the 2000 poetic generation)Ionel Bota, Mișcarea literară nr. 1, 2015, pag. 113-114 "poezia generaţiei care şi-l revendică între liderii ei şi pe Ionuț Caragea"/ Ionuț Caragea, one of the leaders of the 2000 poetic generationIon Pachia-Tatomirescu, Luceafărul de seară, 30 march 2010: Ionuț Caragea, reprezentant de seamă al „generației Google“ / Ionuț Caragea, the prominent representative of the "Google generation"Constantin Frosin în revista ASLRQ, nr. 10, 2019, și pe site-ul Uniunii Scriitorilor: Ionuț Caragea, lider al generației 2000Aureliu Goci în revista RFeflex, nr. 12, 2019, și pe site-ul Uniunii Scriitorilor: Poezia lui Ionuț Caragea, din nefericire mai cunoscută și mai apreciată în străinătate decât la noi, susținută de referințe critice de înaltă credibilitate, reprezintă vârful de creație al generației douămiiste and one of the most atypical and original writers of today's Romania.Cezarina Adamescu, Luceafărul de seară, 21 feb. 2010: "Ionuț Caragea şi-a modelat o voce singulară, un timbru original, un stil aparte, inimitabil."/ a unique voice, an original stamp, inimitable styleŞtefan Borbely on the website of the Romanian Writers' Union: "Unul dintre cei mai atipici literaţi de care dispune în prezent România"/ One of the most atypical writers that Romania currently hasOvidiu Ghidirmic, Scrisul românesc, July, 2017: "Ionuț Caragea este o figură atipică și insolită a literaturii noastre de astăzi"/ Ionuț Caragea is an atypical and singular figure of our today's literatureAdrian Dinu Rachieru, Convorbiri literare, nr. 3, 2015 and on the website of the Romanian Writers' Union: "Ionuț Caragea, un literat atipic, dezlănțuit într-o abundentă producție... Evident, Ionuț Caragea este un poet autentic, urmând a fi „redescoperit”"/ Ionuț Caragea, an atypical writer, unleashed in abundant production ... Obviously, Ionuț Caragea is an authentic poet, to be "rediscovered"
He is also known in France, where he has published several books translated or written directly into French, thus becoming a member of the Société des Poètes Français and a member of the Société des poètes et artistes de France. , one of the leading personalities of Francophonie, analyzing the volume of poems "Mon amour abyssal", considers that Caragea is a poet who honors Romania and European literature.Givanni Dotoli about Ionuț Caragea in Revue européenne de recherches sur la poésie", nr. 4, 2018, Paris Caragea has been awarded three times by the Society of French Poets and four other prizes were awarded by the Society of French Poets and Artists. In 2021, he received the "Genius" prize from the Naji Naaman Foundation, an award given only four times between 2002 and 2021.
Biography Caragea was born on April 12, 1975, in Constanța. He is a poet, prose writer, literary critic, editor, aphorism-writer, and cultural promoter. He is a member of the Romanian Writers’ Union, the Cluj-Napoca branch, a co-founder and vice-chairman of the Romanian Writers’ Association of Québec, an honorary member of the Writers’ Society of Neamț County, an honorary member of the Maison Naaman pour Culture Foundation of Lebanon, a member of Elis (the worldwide remarkable Romanians’ Network), an honorary member of the International Association of Paradoxism, a member of the Diversité Artistique Cultural Organization of Montréal, a member of the Poetas del Mundo Cultural Organization of Chile, etc. As a result of his friendship and name relation with Prince Eugen Enea Caraghiaur, in 2008 he was raised to the noble rank of Baron of the Cuman House of Panciu. He started his literary career in 2006, with a collection of poems – Delirium Tremens (STEF Publishing House, Iași). His poems, aphorisms, short stories, and critical essays have appeared in various magazines, newspapers, and anthologies in Romania and the Romanian diaspora. He is one of the twenty authors who were published in Antologia aforismului românesc contemporan/An Anthology of Contemporary Romanian Aphorisms (Genesi Publishing House, Turin, 2013), and one of the twenty-seven authors who were published in Antologia aforismului românesc contemporan/An Anthology of Contemporary Romanian Aphorisms (Digital Unicorn Publishing House, Constanța, 2016). Following the 2012 Naji Naaman International Contest, he was awarded the Creativity Prize for aphorisms from his collection Dicționarul suferinței/A Dictionary of Suffering (Fides Publishing House, Iași, 2008), translated into French by Professor Constantin Frosin, PhD. He is included in Cartea înțelepciunii universale. Maxime și cugetări din literatura universală/A Book of World Wisdom. Maxims and Thoughts from World Literature (eLiteratura Publishing House, Bucharest, 2014). boema.ro/reviste/Boema076.pdf Nicolae Mareș, Maxime şi cugetări din literatura universală/A Book of World Wisdom. Maxims and Thoughts from World Literature, review in Boema nr. 76, june 2015, pag. 27 He is also included in Alertă de grad zero în proza scurtă românească actuală/Red Alert in Today's Romanian Short Story Writing (Herg Benet Publishing House, 2012). He has won several poetry and short story contests. Some of his work has been translated into six languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Albanian. He was nicknamed "The poet who was born on Google" after the title of his book M-am născut pe Google/I Was Born on Google (STEF Publishing House, Iași, 2007). In 2012, the English version of his science fiction novel Uezen was published by Wildside Press (US).
In 2003-2011 he lived in Montréal, Canada, where he received the Canadian citizenship (2008). He worked as a sports instructor and professional sportsman, continuing his rugby career which he started in Romania. He is the son of a former Romanian rugby player, Florin Caragea, who played for Farul Constanța. Ionuț Caragea played for Parc Olympique and won the Québec province championship three times.
He started writing poetry in his teens but it was in Canada that he discovered his true calling. His first poems were published on April 6, 2006, in "Observatorul," a literary magazine from Toronto, where he was welcomed by the poet George Filip. Then he was promoted by the editor Dumitru Scorțanu, who published his first three books at STEF Publishing House, Iași. On July 16, 2008, he founded, together with the poet Adrian Erbiceanu, The Romanian Writers’ Association of Québec and the ASLRQ Publishing House. As an editor and founder of ASLRQ, in 2009 he compiled, together with Adrian Erbiceanu and Dumitru Scorțanu, the first anthology of Romanian writers from Québec, a very important work for the diaspora. He committed himself to promoting Romanian culture in North America, being webmaster, webdesigner, and literary promoter for the site of the Romanian Writers’ Association of Québec (www.aslrq.ro), and founder of the Prietenii Poeziei/Poetry's Friends Literary Society. In February 2012 he returned to Romania and settled in Oradea. In 2014 the eLiteratura Publishing House published his latest collections of poems that were welcomed by the poet Ana Blandiana with a text on the back cover of his Cer fără scări/Stepless Sky.Ana Blandiana about Ionuț Caragea, Viaţa pozitivă, 2014 In 2015 he coordinated the 2015 ASLRQ anthology.Ionuț Caragea, ASLRQ Anthology, Ziua din Constanța, 27 may 2015 He has published more than 50 books (poems, aphorisms, science fiction, critical essays, thoughts on spirituality, memoirs, and anthologies). Romanian literary critics see him as one of the leaders of the 2000 poetic generation (some critics even considered him the undisputed leader of this generation) and one of the most atypical and original writers of today's Romania. The critic Maria-Ana Tupan believes that the poet Ionuț Caragea sometimes reminds one of Marin Sorescu, a great Romanian writer.Maria-Ana Tupan, Contemporanul nr. 7, 2014 (last paragraph): "poetul ne amintește adesea de Marin Sorescu"/ Ionuț Caragea sometimes reminds one of Marin Sorescu…
Works Delirium Tremens, Ed. STEF, 2006 (poetry in Romanian) M-am născut pe Google, Ed. STEF, 2007 (poetry in Romanian) Donator universal, Ed. STEF, 2007 (poetry in Romanian) Omul din cutia neagră, Ed. Fides din Iaşi, 2007 (poetry in Romanian) 33 bis, Ed. Fides, 2008 (poetry in Romanian) Analfabetism literar, Ed. Fides, 2008 (poetry in Romanian) Dicţionarul suferinţei, Ed. Fides, 2008 (quotes in Romanian) Negru Sacerdot, Ed. Fides, 2008 (poetry in Romanian) Absenţa a ceea ce suntem, Ed. Fides, 2009 (poetry in Romanian) Snowdon King - La suprême émotion, Ed. ASLRQ, 2009 (poetry in French) Déconnecté, Ed. ELMIS, 2009 (poetry in French) Guru amnezic, Ed. Fides, 2009 (poetry in Romanian) Literatura virtuală și Curentul Generației Google, Ed. Fides, 2009 (essays, interviews in Romanian) Poezii de dragoste, Ed. Fides, 2010 (poetry in Romanian) Dicționarul suferinţei, vol. II, Ed. Fides, 2010 (quotes in Romanian) Snowdon King - Uezen și alte povestiri, Ed. Fides, 2010 (science fiction in Romanian) Snowdon King - Conștiința lui Uezen, SF, Ed. Fides, 2010 (science fiction in Romanian) Snowdon King - Uezen. Echilibrul lumilor, SF, Ed. Fides, 2011 (science fiction in Romanian) Suflet zilier, Ed. Fides, 2011 (poetry in Romanian) Esenţe lirice, cronici literare 2007-2011, Ed. Fides, 2011 (literary chronicles in Romanian) Gîndul meu. Cum am devenit Poet, Ed. Fides, 2011 (Novel in Romanian) Întreita suferință, Ed. Fides, 2011 (quotes in Romanian) Snowdon King - Uezen, Ed. Wildside Press, U.S.A, 2012 (science fiction in English) Patria la care mă întorc, Ed. Fides, 2012 (poetry in Romanian) Antologie de Poeme 2006-2012, Ed. Fides, 2013 (poetry in Romanian) Delir cu tremurături de gînduri. Citate şi aforisme 2006-2013, Ed. Fides, 2013 (quotes in Romanian) Festina lente, Ed. eLiteratura, 2014 (poetry in Romanian ans Spanish) Cer fără scări / Ciel sans escalier, Ed. eLiteratura, 2014 (poetry in French) Discipolii zeilor de altădată, Ed. eLiteratura, 2015 (science fiction in Romanian) În așteptarea păsării, Ed. eLiteratura, 2015 (poetry and quotes in Romanian) Ascultă-ți gândul și împlinește-ți visele, Ed. eLiteratura, 2016 (Novel in Romanian)