AllVlad

AllVlad is a pen name. Behind it is a Romanian writer who grew up in Bucharest and now lives in Hanoi.

I came to writing late, and by a long way around — through other languages, other countries, and a lot of years spent being good at not being known. This book is my attempt to reverse that: to take the parts of a life I had always kept in separate rooms and set them down together, in order, where they could finally be seen.

The title comes from the way I think memory works. Not a straight film you can rewind, but a kaleidoscope — the same few coloured pieces, falling into a new pattern each time you turn it. You do not invent the pieces. You only decide when to stop turning, and look.

When the Kaleidoscope Stops is dedicated to my half-sister, Ana. She is the reason the pattern holds.