Alumni - Flavius Ardelean, MA Publishing
I will just start by saying that studying at the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies was the best thing that could have happened to me on a professional level. It helped me structure the internal turmoil that was provoked by my love for books and offered me a host of opportunities.
I am an author, translator, arts manager and publishing professional from Bucharest, Romania, currently the PR & Marketing Manager of a Romanian imprint specializing in science fiction, fantasy and crime fiction, and also the Publicist of a new online bookshop and community. I graduated from the MA in Publishing at the OICPS in 2013 with a Dissertation on the horror publishing industry, supervised by Angus Phillips. Horror publishing ... Yes, they do this, they really do – the staff at OICPS supports every crazy idea you’ve got and helps you give it the form and logic that it needs. ...
The MA opens many doors and I was very fortunate to intern for various organizations in both Oxford and London. This was very helpful and, since graduating, I have worked with major publishing houses in Romania in various marketing and sales roles and with online bookshops in both print and digital publishing roles.
I also write fiction under the pen name A. R. Deleanu and have published two books. Being fluent in English and German, I have also translated fiction into Romanian, but have quickly understood that this is a full-time job in itself and will leave it to the professionals (result: I now have a deep respect for translators). This dual nature of mine (author and publishing professional) helps me understand publishing processes much better and the OICPS courses, author seminars, guest lectures from the industry etc. were invaluable for my understanding of the business of publishing books.
There really are not enough words of praise for the staff of the OICPS and I can only hope that they will continue to enrich the lives of many more young publishing professionals.
Posted on 04 Sep 2014 around 7am