Born in a Communist state, I was always ready to speak my mind, but learned quickly that there are always consequences. The regime had organised the most complete system of creating fear at the time. The obsession of controlling the internal forces to avoid the collapse from within had transformed friends and relatives into informants. I decided early in life, after a period of intense creation (I studied music and art and wrote a series of short stories), that, in order to protect my friends and relatives from themselves, I would not produce anything that might have forced them to inform the authorities. Keeping a journal, painting, even talking, could have caused trouble for my friends, my family, or myself. Once I had kids, my responsibilities grew even more. So, I confined myself to silence. Now, as I live in my new country and my children have grown and are standing on their own feet, I feel that I can break the silence without the risk to harm them or my friends. I hope you enjoy my work at least as much as I do.