Spotlight On Writers – Simona Prilogan

I was born in Hunedoara City, Transylvania, Romania, in a communist regime. Hunedoara was at that time an important steel plant in Europe and I remember it as a very vibrant city, busy and full of colors. Despite having, as a nation, hard time, I had a beautiful childhood amongst the chestnut trees, snowy winters, dance classes, countryside holidays, great friends, but beyond of all, amongst the love of my parents who have done their best to raise me and my brother well.
In a way, all that time put a mark on my critical thinking. The communism had its facts with goods and wrongs, and while the freedom was not that clearly defined, I was lucky to learn in a school with a lot of brilliant insights. And this was great for my foundation.
I was 15 when communism dropped down and from that point, my home place became more and more affected by the incompetence and corrupt politics. People no longer found enough decent perspectives and many of them left their homeland. Yet the democracy brought us the liberty of moving. A kind of… Then it was a while with a blurred definition of what the new freedom meant and how mentalities struggled to get the best of it. Plus, the way the things turned in our society. I remember being 8 and standing in a long, long queue in “Alimentara” – the food shop at that time, to buy oranges. I got only 2 because they should be enough for as many people as possible. Then I was 10 when we visited with our class teacher the Army Department in our city and there was a small “chiosc” (kiosk) where we could buy some chocolate and each of us was allowed to buy only half of a bar. But you see, even these seem to be strange things now, as a child I did not pay that much attention to them. I only saw the good part of having finally something you cannot get every day. And this was a thing that brought smiles on my face and happiness. It’s interesting how facts are sparking in each of us at different levels during the years.
Then I remember I was 17-18 when we had to face even longer queues than in communism in the new markets. Around that age, I discovered the rudeness of some of the public institutions’ staff. And I felt so sad. We hoped that Revolution will bring us some sort of release, joy, and happiness. And a better social justice. In reality, the facts were a bit different. There is a lot of psychology around those times and all that stuff had a huge impact on my development.

Everything around turns me on creatively. Everything around my loved ones, around the places I see. Life itself is the best muse. People, colours, music, nature, emotions, patterns, numbers, situations. Then I only need to arrange the words into ideas and thoughts. It comes as a necessity of expressing, a kind of burning out the flame that sparks on my mind. Not only once I had to wake up in the middle of the night because the wings of some ideas wanted to fly away from my head into a piece of paper.
On the other hand, memories become sometimes my muse. It’s interesting how with the passage of time, the facts get more charm in the echoes of the old times.
Mostly I like to rhyme. Poetry has been my best friend ever and allowed me to play with the rhythm like in a good song. I was 7 when I wrote my first serious poem and that was about Hunedoara. It had a perfect rhythm and a good rhyme. And even won some prize in a community poetry contest. I was so happy, and that event helped build my confidence along the way.
Six years ago, I started learning English on my own. It was a great challenge. Then 2 years later I decided to take the job opportunity in the United Kingdom. When I was feeling quite confident in my English writing, I tried to write poems straight in English. And I have enjoyed a lot. I still need to take my time, may be more than English native would do, but I love the act of creation so now I just love to express myself in English too.
I tried some translation as well between Romanian and English on my poems, but found the message not that accurate while keeping the form – rhyme, and rhythm, or I lose the form to be accurate in the meanings. So, I prefer to just ink straight in English or Romanian, distinct poems or short stories. In English I still work to improve rhythm, as it’s quite hard in the second language to correctly pronounce the syllables in all the words.
Coming back to what turns me in creativity, I am working now on a novel project in Romanian, inspired by my personal story. I am happily married to an amazing Pakistani man I met on Facebook in a math group, about 6 years ago. There is a long story behind and I was encouraged by close friends to write it as maybe many others who struggle between continents, will find some inspiration insights.

I have a lot of favourite words, such as Faith, Hope, Light, Truth, Peace, Serenity, but above all comes Love. And I think the most poetical sentence ever I found it’s in the Bible: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopeful, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” Simple, purely and so beautifully expressed.
A sentence I live by, and I could say: Love always prevails! No matters the distance, the continents, the cultures, the embassies procedures. True love always trusts, always hopes and never fails.