Ovidiu Pecican  Ovidiu Coriolan Pecican (born January 8, 1959) is a Romanian historian, essayist, novelist, short-story writer, literary critic, poet, playwright, and journalist of partly Serbian origin. He is especially known for his political writings on disputed issues such as regional autonomy for Transylvania, and for his co-authorship of a controversial history textbook for 11th and 12th grade high-school students. Pecican is co-editor of "Caietele Tranziției" and a contributor to major newspapers, including "Contemporanul", "Cotidianul", and "Ziarul Financiar". He has also written works of science fiction, mainstream literature and cultural history studies. Since 1994, he has been a member of the Romanian Writers' Union. Born in Arad, Pecican graduated from the University of Cluj-Napoca (currently known as the "Babeș-Bolyai University", UBB) in 1985. He published his first short story in 1978. During the late 1970s, he was active in the underground movie-making movement in his native city, as a member of the "Atelier 16" Club, together with Gheorghe Sabău, Mircea Mihăieş, Ioan T. Morar, Valentin Constantin, Alexandru Pecican and others. As a student, between 1981 and 1985, he became a member of the staff of the periodicals "Napoca Universitară" and "Echinox". Regularly featured in various literary magazines, his prose was first edited in a single volume in 1990 ("Eu și maimuța mea", "Me and My Monkey" — published by Editura Dacia). Between 1985 and 1990, Pecican worked as a high school professor of history in Lipova, Arad County; in 1991–1994, he was a researcher for the UBB's Center for Transylvanian Studies ("Centrul de Studii Transilvane"), before becoming a Lecturer at the UBB (1994). The recipient of a BA in History and Philosophy (1985) and of a PhD in Medieval History (1998), both from the UBB, he specialized in the social and cultural history of Central and Southeastern Europe. In 1994, Pecican published a book of interviews with novelist Nicolae Breban ("O utopie tangibilă", "A Tangible Utopia"; Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică).