Valerică Stănescu was born in Kraineaka, Transdniestria (at the time part of the USSR) on 6 October 1942. On his identity card, his year of birth is given as 1944. This is not, however, the actual year in which he was born but rather the year in which his family returned to Romania from Transnistria, to where they had been forcefully deported under the Nazi regime in Romania together with thousands of other Romani families. Because of the Holocaust against Roma and their forced deportation to Transnistria, his birth was officially registered only in 1944, when his family returned to Romania. Later, Valerică Stănescu successfully fought for the legal recognition of his real date of birth (1942).

After graduating from high school, Stănescu started working as a coppersmith, employing traditional Romani crafts in his professional metalwork. His writings include novels, poems and a collection of traditional Romani folklore (2012). In addition, he is a Pentecostal minister.

Bibliography

Stănescu, Valerică. 2014. Legile Şatrei [Law of the Romani camp]. Bucharest: Vanemonde.

Stănescu, Valerică. 2007. Cu moartea în ochi [With the death in front of my eyes]. Bucharest: Malnic.

Stănescu, Valerică. 2012. Phure vorbi purane – Proverbe vechi din bătrâni. Traducere de Camelia
Stănescu. (Publicată în cadrul proiectului ‘Proverbe, poezii şi poveşti rome’ de Romani CRISS). [Old sayings of the elders. Translated by Camelia Stănescu, published in the framework of the project ‘Romani proverbs, poems and tales’ of Romani CRISS]. Bucharest: National Center for Rroma Culture – Romano Kher, and Romani C.R.I.S.S. – Roma Center for Social Inclusion and Studies. http://www.romanicriss.org/PDF/carte%20proverbe.pdf

Stănescu, Valerică. 2017. Fata cu ochii ca mura [The girl with blackberry eyes]. Bucharest: National Center for Roma Culture – Romano Kher.

Stănescu, Valerică. 2017. Piatra din piatră [The stone of stone]. Bucharest: National Center for Roma Culture – Romano Kher.