Biography
Born in Şeitin, Arad County, Morar graduated as a valedictorian from the University of Timişoara's Faculty of Philology (Romanian-French section) in 1981. During the period, he became active in student theater groups — his troupe's performance in the 1981 adaptation of Vasile Alecsandri's comedy Sânziana şi Pepelea won it first prize during a festival in Iaşi (the city were he also met with and joined Divertis).
Assigned to a teaching position in Lugoj, he sat on the editorial staff for the magazines Viaţa Studenţească and Amfiteatru after 1987. He also began writing his first works of drama and poetry, and joined the Writers' Union. Morar's works, translated into several languages, won him the Writers' Union debut prize (1984, for Vara indiană) and its poetry prize (2000, for Şovăiala).
Following the 1989 Revolution, he became a member of the Civic Alliance, while contributing to the newspaper Cuvântul. In 1990, Morar was employed by the national television station's Entertainment section and created several shows, but resigned the following year.
He authored his debut novel Lindenfeld in 2006, to critical acclaim. A fresco of a Swabian locality in the Banat (see Lindenfeld, Caraş-Severin), it is considered a "Postmodern novel". Lindenfeld was awarded the prize for prose works by the newspaper Ziarul de Iaşi.
Morar returned to work for national television in 2006, and began hosting his talk show Lumea citeşte! ("People Read!"), aired by TVR 1. During the same year, he was invited to take part in the final stage of TVR1's Mari Români campaign, a series which called on intellectuals to showcase the 10 greatest Romanians ever (who had been determined by a poll); Morar supported Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza for the top position, and co-produced a short television film depicting the latter's merits. As part of a 2005-2006 television advertising campaign for Kandia chocolate bars, Morar impersonated the last ruler of Communist Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu.
In early 2007, he left on an extended journey to New Caledonia, which he documented in a special blog for Academia Caţavencu, called Morar&More.
In 2010, he was named Romania's Consul General in Marseilles, France.
Read more about this topic: Ioan T. Morar
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