Romanian literature

Romanian literature (Romanian: Literatura română) is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania.

Early Romanian literature includes religious texts and historical chronicles written in Old Church Slavonic. Romanian literature throughout history has been influenced both by international European movements, such as Humanism and Enlightenment, and by the local geopolitical context and major national events such as the Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia and the Union of Transylvania with Romania. In addition to literature created by individual authors, Romania also has a rich tradition of folk literature which is part of the Romanian folklore. In 2009, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Herta Müller.

Romanian literature achieved its golden age during the interwar period, and several authors of the 20th century, gained international recognition, such as Mircea Eliade and Emil Cioran.

During the communist era, literature as well as most other aspects of life, were subjected to control and censorship by the state authorities. Nevertheless, during the same period many classical Romanian literary works were adapted into films and television series by the Romanian cinema and the Romanian television, as part of the nationalist desire of the communist party to promote Romanian culture.