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Ioana Ileana Ștețco was born in September 1952 in Borșa, Maramureş. A member of the Romanian Writers’ Union and labeled the “subtle alchemist of existential melancholy,” she has published three poetry collections spanning four decades. Her poems have been described as “remarkably vivid, tumultuous, overwhelming and grave.” Ștețco’s collections have won several national poetry prizes. Her latest collection, Pay Attention, Madam, was published in 2016.