Born in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), I partly grew up there as communism and the Eastern Bloc were falling apart, among artists, intellectuals and old families who had lost almost everything to the regime. There was much love, and a great many books around me, and I read a lot. Even then—and ever since—I have been interested in people; they are the ones I try to understand. I chose literature and history as my tools.

At law school, I came to understand how systems work—their weight and their weightlessness. I became a journalist, then a writer. Sometimes I disguise myself as a documentary filmmaker, or as a television host; I also write screenplays, plays, short stories and novels.

The medium and the form may vary, but they are not what matters most. In truth, I simply tell stories.