Ode to my Youth

Petra Cotociu invites readers to reminisce about the candid moments of one's youth. Ode to my Youth is the debut collection of poetry and prose of a Transylvanian girl living in England.

The timeless collection celebrates the journey of a girl who dares to go looking for the artist everybody told her she can't be. These words are the dried flowers, the memories pressed in between the pages of her childhood. They tell the coming of age stories of a girl and her flourishing 20s, tales of thorn-cut wounds and meticulously hand-picked bouquets; a compendium of her love for art and people. These poems are the songs of an immigrant who trusted an inner calling, guiding her far away from home.

Follow her story through a nostalgic collage of pictures and poems that immortalise her childhood in Romania; portraits of old lovers, family traditions and anecdotes of love and heartbreak. Discover the beauty of the mundane seen through the lens of a hopeless romantic navigating life in between two countries. 'Ode to my Youth' is an invitation to reminisce about the candid moments of one's youth.



These pages are her heritage; a testament to how wonderfully it aches to uncover the artist within, written in loving memory of her grandfather, Gion.