The Roads of the Roma: a PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers

by Ian Hancock (Editor), Siobhan Dowd (Editor), Rajko Djurić (Editor)

A unique anthology of poetry and prose extracts by Roma writers from 20 countries interwoven with a chronology of the history of the Roma since their departure from India in 997 AD to the repeal of the last US law discriminating against Roma in January 1998.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies, Fiction, World Literature, Short Stories

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Jessica Thurber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was delighted to receive this book as a gift, since I have been researching my family roots and I have been trying to learn more about the Romani line of my family tree. It's fantastic to find a compilation of writing by Romani writers. When I tried searching for work by Romani writers before I couldn't find many of them in English.

My favorite aspect of this book is the timeline that accompanies the beautiful & heartbreaking poems throughout the book. Everyone should learn about the history of the Roma people. I suspect many Americans and Europeans have Romani ancestry that have no idea. Our people have been persecuted for so long that many people probably hid their heritage and assimilated. My Romani grandfather fought in WWII as an American soldier and it's no wonder why he didn't talk about his family or their culture to his children and grandchildren. This book is a celebration of the Romani people and their history. I hope to see more like it.

One of my favorite pieces in the book is "The Bosnian Tragedy" written by Gjünler Abdula.

[Angie Lisle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book while researching my family origins (Welsh-Romnichal) and was wonderfully surprised by the emotional depth of the stories and poems collected here. I also appreciate that this is a collection of works composed by actual Romany people - for far too long, the Romany have been portrayed only as stereotypes by cultures that fail to understand the Romany way of life. I love the personal insight that dominates this book.

My favorite story is "A Wedding in Auschwitz" by Rajko Djuric (translated by Anika Weiss). It's a gut-wrenching look at the effects of "The Porajmos" ("The Devouring" - or, the Romany Holocaust) perpetuated by Nazi Germany.

The poem that stands out the most to me was "Lament of the Mother," also written by Rajko Djuric (apparently, I'm a fan of this writer). This is a heart-breaking poem that will resonate with all mothers, no matter what their cultural background - the poem (along with "Prayers of an Impious Father and Gypsy Mother) is dedicated to a young boy who died (naturally) in a Serbian village and was almost denied the right to be buried.

I'm used to picking up anthologies and having a 50/50 shot of liking/hating the individual components. That didn't happen with this book - I didn't have any strong dislike feelings with any of the pieces found here and I highly recommend this book.

[Roger Dawd · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are into Romani studies, this collection of Romani stories and poems is a precious addition to your library. The historical timeline provided is also quite an eye-opener to the long and bumpy road the Romani people have travelled. I highly recommend this work.

[Niska · Rating 5 out of 5]

It always wonderful to see other Rom from all vitsas and all kinds of places in the world come together to create a beautiful anthology about who we are

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always feel compelled, in reviews of poetry collections, to stress that I know nothing about poetry, so I'm probably a terrible judge at what is good or bad. (No thank you to the smarmy "word porn" that gets passed around social media, though, yuck.) The Roads of the Roma is a collection of writings from Roma artists, mostly poems, but also extracts from prose. I don't know much about the Roma beyond stereotypes, and have no idea if every group referred to by the G-word belongs to the Roma or if there are lots of groups of Travelers who get lumped together. (The book includes, for example, a few writers who are not explicitly Roma but have experiences with the traveling lifestyle and the prejudices that come along with it.)

Interesting about the G-word. According to the book it's a corruption of "Egyptians" or "'gyptians" from a time when it was believed Roma were descendants of that civilization. Their true origins, it seems, are in India. Some writers use the term interchangeably with "Roma" or "Rom", and nowhere in the book is it marked as offensive, but this was published 25 years ago. As far as I can tell it is still a debate within the Roma community whether it ought to be considered a slur. Since this is such a global community (writers herein hail from Spain, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the US, etc etc) I suppose it varies from location to location how hatefully the term is used.

My favorite pieces in the book were "A red foundling strolls into this dream" by Mariella Mehr (only an extract, but the opening line is "I found/my body/on red velvet", such a potent image), "I Remember a Child" by Paola Schopf, and "A wedding in Auschwitz" by Rajko Djurić, a prose piece. It's interesting the motifs that permeate the works in this collection by such disparate writers, growing up in different countries and presumably having different experiences--butterflies, flowers, and the golden sun are recurring images, beyond the more obvious cultural touchstones like music and dance and, unfortunately, prejudice and violence.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I'd read this for Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month 2022 and it worked reasonably well for that purpose, if not for providing insight into the contemporary experience. There is a useful introduction from editor Ian Hancock about the project to produce the book as part of PEN's Threatened Literatures series. The choice to provide a terse timeline of Roma history from 997 running alongside the poems right through the book and right up to the time of publication (1998) was a powerful and effective one (the most recent history provided was heavily informed by the impact of conflict in the Balkans, and the whole so tellingly relentless)

Most of the poetry was in translation (largely from a wide variety of European languages rather than Roma and I think sometimes there was a loss in translation. Little is known of some of the poets, but I very much appreciated the brief biographies provided and would love to know what Hester Hedges has done with her life - her poem written at 16 and the anthology published just before her hoped admission to university to study law. Some poems were particularly striking: Ode to the Twentieth Century by Leksa Manus, and José Heredia Maya's Seeing If There's Something That Makes Me Good for Nothing which takes a wry look at the 'begging' of a bishop. There was a deliberate decision to focus on poetry which addressed the impact of history on people of Gypsy, Roma or Traveller heritages, and it left me wanting to hear more about life now.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Roads of the Roma is an impactful read. Written by Roma, the poetry is harrowing, and it captures the sadness and the terror that the Roma have experienced for centuries. In addition, the timeline that intervals throughout the book provides the historical background needed to better to engage with the poetry.

[Taye Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful anthology with a very raw look into what it's like to constantly be displaced for generations. It's an honest look on how when you find an arbitrary or silly law, it was probably enacted because of racism. There's a lot of poetry that really moved me and I'm excited to find some more of the individual author's books, particularly Mariella Mehr and Nadia Hava-Robbins.

[Bianca Scarlat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book highlighting the history of the Roma in Europe and their lives through poetry and stories.
Looking forward to learning more about Roma and their culture, history and literature. They are our brothers and sisters and they deserve all the love and kindness for their history was rough for no reason.

[Eleanor]

I probably could have stuck with this but none of these poems really jumped out at me. I did enjoy the history sections in here, but I just mostly felt stressed about the fact that I had so many library books out so I've given it back and may pick it back up at some point

[Douglas Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable collection of poems and prose, informative introduction and timeline.
Opre Roma!

[liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found learning about the history of the Roma in Europe so interesting, and loved how it was presented as a poetry collection.

[Steven Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to the literature and poetry of the Roma, mixing both as it does, along with a timeline of their existence which goes back over a thousand years.

[hawk]

I've only just started reading this, but I'm impressed so far 😃

the contents pages reveal a real breadth of authors/contributors, the introduction is interesting and informative, and the accompanying history/chronology is well presented, fascinating, and in places chilling.

I'm looking forward to continuing to read 🙂

💙☸💚

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad but beautiful poems