Romanistan

Alexian Santino Spinelli, musician, composer, writer, poet and university professor. The first Italian Roma to be appointed Commendatore of the Italian Republic for artistic and cultural merits. Spinelli with the Alexian Group holds numerous concerts in Italy and abroad. With his son Gennaro, he is the first Roma to have played at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naple...

Daughter of printmakers and painters – an English Romany father and Scottish-English-Irish mother – Lynn Hutchinson Lee is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in Toronto, Canada. Lynn spent her childhood summers in a forest surrounded by marshes and bogs, and their lush beauty and magic haunt her writing. She was first place winner of the 2022 Joy Kogawa Award for Fiction. Her writing is p...

Here's the edited release of Tales from Romanistan: A Night of Romani Storytelling, our first live show, in New Orleans, LA at Cafe Istanbul, 3/28/2025! Hosted by Paulina Stevens and Jezmina Von Thiele , Produced by Bimbo Yaga, Cast includes Tsarina Hellfire , Moonbear , Milly Raccoon , Bimbo Yaga , and our editor and musician, Viktor! Photos by Arian Aragon . Special thanks to our cast, crew...

Welcome to our teaser for our first live show recording, and a recap! We hosted our first Welcome to Romanistan Festival in New Orleans, featuring six events that brought together incredible queer and trans Romani performers from across the country. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME! The festival showcased Romani culture through academic panels, live performances, fortune telling, ancestral rituals,...

Orhan Tahir is a Romani lawyer, scholar and journalist, originally from Bulgaria, who has lived in Western Europe for the past 10 years. He is currently engaged as a PhD researcher in Political Science at the Heidelberg University in Germany. Orhan's focus is on the construction of "Gypsies" as an outcast "Pariah people" in European imagination in line with the Orientalist...

Klaudia Farkas is a Romani woman, Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) since 2010, a self-taught herbalist since 2014, and an esthetician since 2020. She is the founder and owner of Romani Roots and Romani Roots Skincare and Herbal Remedies , based in the heart of Noe Valley, San Francisco. With a passion for holistic wellness, Klaudia blends her extensive knowledge in healthcare, natural remedies, and...

"Seeking Warmth," an art exhibit curated by artist Sharon Svec, held at Art At The Cave in Vancouver, WA running March 4-29, 2025 , aims to explore humanity's need for emotional and physical warmth, especially during times of extreme circumstances such as those caused by genocide, war, oppression and neglect. Ceija Stojka (1933-2013) was a child survivor of the Romani Holocaust ( Sa...

Sejnur Memisi is a journalist & Roma activist from Germany. He is originally from Kosovo, and escaped 1999 with his family to Germany because of the Kosovo war. He studied Media Management and since April 2020 has produced Podcasts about Sinti & Roma. He began the podcast (Sinti Roma News, formerly RYMEcast) in the German language. 3 of his German speaking Podcast episodes were nominated f...

In this episode, we dive into Romani representation in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu with Madeline Potter, Romani scholar of 19th century Gothic literature! We also get into vampire lore, Romani folklore, mulo, strigoi, and Romani tropes in Gothic literature and media.  Madeline Potter is a research and teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh, in the literature of the long 19th century (Rom...

Nancy Black is the alter ego of the journalist and activist Gilda-Nancy Horvath, a Romni from Vienna, Austria. She writes poems in Romanes, English and German which are sometimes translated to music, mainly rap music. Her rap-poem "Trushula" (Crosses) states clearly that the danger of dark history repeating is always present - and that even people from marginalized groups are not safe fr...

Welcome to season 5! This mini-episode starts with a tarot reading for the year ahead. There’s personal growth and healing in 2025 with the Hermit and the Ace of Cups. Listeners are encouraged to embrace introspection, nurture emotional well-being, and prioritize love in their lives and communities.  • Time for reflection and introspection inspired by the Hermit card  • Healing journey through the...

This episode explores the inclusion of the Romani language on Google Translate, featuring Rowena Marin's insights on the intersection of technology and culture. We discuss the journey from grassroots initiatives to digital recognition, the complexities of language preservation, and the opportunities technology can create for the Romani community. • The journey of Rowena Marin from Romania to...

We spoke with Ylva Mara Radziszewski about Water Always Wanders , a multimedia theatre production of queer and trans Romani artists at the Mudlark Theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana December 6th & 7th from 6:30-9:00 pm cst. Our book, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling will be for sale along with Loly scarves, and other vendors. This performance will also be a fundraiser for our Welcome to Romani...

What if spirits could communicate through a simple hair comb? And what role do children play in spiritual practices? Join us as we uncover these mysteries and more, during our vibrant journey on the Good Morning Romanistan book tour. From Portland to Portsmouth, we’ve been embraced by amazing communities and experienced transformative events like our ancestral tarot workshop with Chagall PAC. List...

Andra Zlătescu is a musician, performer, and illustrator, who performs as part of the band Willow Switch, Spindle Collective, and as a solo performer. Andra plays the singing saw (a carpentry saw played with a violin bow that evokes the haunting wail of the wind in the trees), banjo, guitar, and sings. Andra is passionate about creation that serves to act as a spell to open the doorways- to honour...

Angeliska Polacheck (they/she) is an Austin, Texas based writer, healer, and professional tarot reader. Devoted to helping seekers find their path, they utilize the tarot in a compassionate and trauma-informed combination of visionary mystic counseling and energy work. Angeliska has been working with the tarot for over 30 years now, and has been reading for clients professionally since 1999. Their...

April Wall is an author and international psychic medium with twenty years of experience helping clients sort through life’s ups and downs. A proud Romany, she carries on the traditions started by the strong women in her family, especially her great-grandmother, great aunt, and granny, or as she refers to them, April’s Angels. Find her online at namastemagical.com to book a reading and keep up to...

On this episode of Romanistan, we introduce a non-Roma international relations guest, , Logan Dulski, and the inclusive tarot deck they created, the Community and Connection Pocket Tarot Deck . We also hear from Romani artist contributors, Lane Friend , Robin Badaire , and Aurora Luna (aka Baby Recklesss) .  Logan Dulski (they/she) is a queer multidisciplinary designer, illustrator, writer, and ci...

What hidden wisdom lies within the centuries-old practice of Romani fortune telling? Join us as Paulina and Jez preview their debut book, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling . In this book, they not only share the spiritual techniques and business insights of fortune telling but also unravel the cultural significance and personal stories steeped in Romani heritage. Picture yourself in a Romani fortu...

We had such a beautiful interview with Ion Zanca, interwoven with music from his new album, ROMANI: The Untold Story.  Ion Zanca is the founder of the Dallas String Quartet, a Billboard-charting Classical Crossover ensemble with over 700 million streams on streaming platforms. They have performed for multiple sitting U.S. Presidents, with superstars like Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs, Jason Aldean and As...

Hello and welcome to Romanistan! We’re off schedule but doing our best! We have some current event updates and a short interview on the book we wrote, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling, available for preorder now. Current events: https://www.errc.org/news/hungarian-governments-new-decree-threatens-ukrainian-romani-refugees https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/femme-enceinte-tuee-dun-coup-de-fusi...

We interviewed allies Lorely French and Carina Kurta who are experts on artist, writer, activist, and Holocaust survivor, Ceija Stojka. In an effort to preserve and share her work, there will be an exhibit of Ceija Stojka's artworks in conjunction with the events that are going on for the Culture Capital of Europe 2024 in the Salzkammergut. The exhibition,  “Hope that was what strengthened us...

Welcome to our second pride month interview! Ruth Sullivan is a director of Traveller Pride, a UK based organisation that brings together Traveller people from the various UK communities to celebrate every aspect of our identities. Ruth is Queer and from a mixed Romany and Gorger family. She discovered her Romany ethnicity in her teens when her Grandad finally opened up about his life to his famil...

Happy Pride! Happy Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month! We were delighted to start off the season by chatting to Nico! Nico is a queer, disabled Romani from the UK who has lived across multiple continents and is currently based on the southeast coast of England. They’re passionate about human rights and equality, and have a lifelong interest in criminal and forensic psychology. They collect taxid...

We have a minisode honoring Romani Resistance Day, May 16th, and the resistance fighter Raymond Gurême.  Resources:  https://www.roma-sinti-holocaust-memorial-day.eu/history/raymond-gureme/ https://eriac.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/RAYMOND-GUREME-new.pdf https://www.romarchive.eu/en/voices-of-the-victims/genocide-holocaust-porajmos-samudaripen/ Roma Words, Roma Worlds hybrid book group through...