The texts in this section are excerpts from interviews given by Doina Ruști over the years. Some are connected to the publication of her novels, others are opinion-based interviews.
Doina Ruști is widely recognized for themes such as chameleonic memory, the role of small-scale history, identity, and transformation.
A recurring idea is that literature, as an institution, may be reaching its end, while storytelling, as a form of knowledge and transmission of human experience, is immortal.
Some of these interviews were published in the national press, others in international media.
To National Television
About The 3rd EU-China International Literary Festival , to “Convietuiri”, Romanian TVR1: Camelia Vacaru in dialogue with Doina Ruști.
2019-01-09
Interview with Doina Ruști on TVRi: I Was in China
First, I told Corina Dobre about what fascinated me in China - in Correspondent show, TVRi: the thirst of literature, literary encounters and many trips across a country as a continent. First impressions, which the ...
2019-05-15
Interview with Romanian Novelist Doina Ruști by Nesrein El-Bakhshawangy, Al-Majalla, Cairo
My Phanariot Trilogy offers a more elaborate image of Bucharest, focusing on its continuous transformations, where enduring legacies remain essential. The Phanariot Manuscript, The Book of Perilous Dishes, and Homeric are the three novels dedicated to historical Bucharest
2025-10-22
Doina Ruști — Interview in Harf Magazine (Issue 100)
Exclusive interview with Romanian novelist Doina Ruști in Harf Magazine, Issue 100 — an in-depth conversation on mythology, identity, memory, and the fantastic. The interview explores the legacy of Dracula in Western consciousness, Romanian mythological ...
2025-11-28
Magical Food, Latin Deities, & Balkan Tradition: An Interview with Doina Ruști by Alyse Mgrdichian
I am a Latinist, and that is why I used elements from peripheral Latin mythology in my book. Sator was a generic name for the supreme creator of the world, and was only rarely used ...
2022-05-09
Doina Ruști on Writing, Translation, and the Phanariot Imagination (based on an interview published by SHELF Media Group, UK, 2021)
This text is based on an interview originally published by SHELF Media Group (UK) in 2021. The original publication appeared in a digital magazine format that is not easily accessible to readers or search engines. ...
2021-10-15
Conversation with Doina Ruști: Literature, Society, and Post-Communist Romania
“Everything reminds me of a film that years ago seemed nothing more than a cheap comedy: Idiocracy. Now we’re all acting in it.” Doina Ruști, interview at the Mantua Festival *Interview recorded by Alex De ...
2020-06-23
Interview with Doina Ruști, Romanian Novelist
An interview in ARCS Projects, University of Washington, Seattle, by Ileana Marin
2020-05-15
Something Else with Adrian Arsene Guest: Doina Ruști
But in this one picture, he’s among others, kind of off to the side, holding some papers in his hand, glasses slipping slightly down his nose, standing near a 1950s truck. I see him in ...
2025-06-23
Talking about Ferenike in Libertatea
In this in-depth interview, Doina Ruști reflects on Ferenike as a confessional yet rigorously constructed novel, exploring memory, violence, history, and personal mythology. She discusses the transformation of lived experience into fiction, the role of affective ...
2025-06-07
Trust Yourself, Ignore the Ruins On moral collapse, survival, and the courage to rebuild
A reflective essay on moral decay, opportunism, and institutional failure, this text argues that survival in times of ethical collapse depends on trust in the individual, selective solidarity, and the courage to ignore irreparable systems. ...
2023-12-03
Interview \
In this interview, Doina Ruști reflects on reading as a form of refuge, the formative impact of Balzac, and the discipline imposed by classical studies. She traces the origins of her method—chronology, synthesis, and the ...
2022-11-24
Stories Are Not Disappearing. Authors Are. Doina Ruști interviewed by Forbes
In this wide-ranging interview for Forbes, Romanian novelist Doina Ruști reflects on storytelling as instinct, the future of reading, screenwriting, video games, and why stories survive even as authors disappear.
2021-09-08
On Fiction, Power, and the New Reader Notes from an interview originally published in Capital
Written at the intersection of fiction, literary theory, and cultural diagnosis, this text gathers selected reflections by Doina Ruști on the making of Occult Beds, the role of the scapegoat character, the crisis of contemporary ...
2021-01-26
Beds, Carob Trees, and the Invisible City Doina Ruști: From the Room of Shoes to the Secret Geography of Bucharest. Interview for Jurnalul Național
In this interview originally published by Jurnalul Național, Romanian novelist Doina Ruști reflects on the real memories, urban myths, and symbolic objects that shaped her novel Occult Beds. From a labyrinthine childhood house with a room full of ...
2021-01-08
Doina Ruști on the Contemporary World An interview by Oana Portase, published in Jurnalul Național
In this landmark interview published in Jurnalul Național, Doina Ruști speaks about the contemporary crisis of identity, the relationship between model and imitation, love and literature, and Bucharest as a chosen city. The dialogue offers ...
2019-11-06
Interview on HotNews
About writing, reading, fiction. And about a devil in love.
2019-01-31
Famous Signatures: Doina Ruști
About The Checkered Shirt and Other Ten Stories — Radio România Actualități, with Mihaela Helmis (Cămașa în carouri)
2010-04-19
TVR interviews, podcasts, filmed conversations
Doina Ruști, an interview, TVR
A conversation about Zavaidoc, the year 1923, and interwar Bucharest, filmed as a journey through today’s city—where the memory of balls, passions, and an enigmatic crime still lingers.
2025-12-29
Autobiographical — and something more
I was never interested in the father–daughter relationship; I was interested in the people who are part of my adventure.
2025-12-05
Doina Ruști — Interview in Harf Magazine (Issue 100)
Exclusive interview with Romanian novelist Doina Ruști in Harf Magazine, Issue 100 — an in-depth conversation on mythology, identity, memory, and the fantastic. The interview explores the legacy of Dracula in Western consciousness, Romanian mythological ...
2025-11-28Interview with Romanian Novelist Doina Ruști by Nesrein El-Bakhshawangy, Al-Majalla, Cairo
My Phanariot Trilogy offers a more elaborate image of Bucharest, focusing on its continuous transformations, where enduring legacies remain essential. The Phanariot Manuscript, The Book of Perilous Dishes, and Homeric are the three novels dedicated to historical Bucharest
2025-10-22Q&A with Doina Rusti, author of The Book of Perilous Dishes
Formicosus! The ant liqueur. It’s a potion that was used until recently throughout the entire Europe, against fevers (in fact, ants are still used in modern pharmaceuticals). In my novel, ant liqueur is for lunatics ...
2025-07-13
Something Else with Adrian Arsene Guest: Doina Ruști
But in this one picture, he’s among others, kind of off to the side, holding some papers in his hand, glasses slipping slightly down his nose, standing near a 1950s truck. I see him in ...
2025-06-23Talking about Ferenike in Libertatea
In this in-depth interview, Doina Ruști reflects on Ferenike as a confessional yet rigorously constructed novel, exploring memory, violence, history, and personal mythology. She discusses the transformation of lived experience into fiction, the role of affective ...
2025-06-07Don’t Leave Mother Tongue in the Oven! On how language changes
A dialogue about language as it is spoken online, on the street, and in literature. The conversation begins casually, over tea on Calea Victoriei, with a simple but provocative question: what slogan would one write ...
2024-07-24
Trust Yourself, Ignore the Ruins On moral collapse, survival, and the courage to rebuild
A reflective essay on moral decay, opportunism, and institutional failure, this text argues that survival in times of ethical collapse depends on trust in the individual, selective solidarity, and the courage to ignore irreparable systems. ...
2023-12-03Telling My Story to Daniel Cristea-Enache
In this extensive interview published by LiterNet, Doina Ruști reflects on her life, work, and intellectual formation, tracing the path from a childhood marked by family memory and early trauma to a literary career shaped ...
2023-08-26
Interview \
In this interview, Doina Ruști reflects on reading as a form of refuge, the formative impact of Balzac, and the discipline imposed by classical studies. She traces the origins of her method—chronology, synthesis, and the ...
2022-11-24Magical Food, Latin Deities, & Balkan Tradition: An Interview with Doina Ruști by Alyse Mgrdichian
I am a Latinist, and that is why I used elements from peripheral Latin mythology in my book. Sator was a generic name for the supreme creator of the world, and was only rarely used ...
2022-05-09Doina Ruști on Writing, Translation, and the Phanariot Imagination (based on an interview published by SHELF Media Group, UK, 2021)
This text is based on an interview originally published by SHELF Media Group (UK) in 2021. The original publication appeared in a digital magazine format that is not easily accessible to readers or search engines. ...
2021-10-15Stories Are Not Disappearing. Authors Are. Doina Ruști interviewed by Forbes
In this wide-ranging interview for Forbes, Romanian novelist Doina Ruști reflects on storytelling as instinct, the future of reading, screenwriting, video games, and why stories survive even as authors disappear.
2021-09-08On Fiction, Power, and the New Reader Notes from an interview originally published in Capital
Written at the intersection of fiction, literary theory, and cultural diagnosis, this text gathers selected reflections by Doina Ruști on the making of Occult Beds, the role of the scapegoat character, the crisis of contemporary ...
2021-01-26The Scents of Life
Perfumes tell me their stories at length, placing me in contact with countless hidden histories. An interview by Claudiu Sfirschi-Lăudat
2021-01-16
Conversation with Doina Ruști: Literature, Society, and Post-Communist Romania
“Everything reminds me of a film that years ago seemed nothing more than a cheap comedy: Idiocracy. Now we’re all acting in it.” Doina Ruști, interview at the Mantua Festival *Interview recorded by Alex De ...
2020-06-23Interview with Doina Ruști, Romanian Novelist
An interview in ARCS Projects, University of Washington, Seattle, by Ileana Marin
2020-05-15Doina Ruști on the Contemporary World An interview by Oana Portase, published in Jurnalul Național
In this landmark interview published in Jurnalul Național, Doina Ruști speaks about the contemporary crisis of identity, the relationship between model and imitation, love and literature, and Bucharest as a chosen city. The dialogue offers ...
2019-11-06Interview with Doina Ruști on TVRi: I Was in China
First, I told Corina Dobre about what fascinated me in China - in Correspondent show, TVRi: the thirst of literature, literary encounters and many trips across a country as a continent. First impressions, which the ...
2019-05-15Interview on HotNews
About writing, reading, fiction. And about a devil in love.
2019-01-31La Radio Bucureși FM, "În Comunitate"
About books & fabulous trips with Răzvan Ursuleanu
2018-12-05
The Phanariot Manuscript in the Translation Café Journal
It all started from a "nizam", an order given by prince Alexandru Moruzi, who wanted a fugitive valet found. It was from the year 1794. This document whetted my appetite, especially considering the fact that ...
2015-07-01
Four men plus Aurelius in the Ziarul de Duminică Journal
Talking with Stelian Țurlea about Patru bărbați plus Aurelius
2011-06-15
