Book Presentation at ERIAC – “The Roma: A Travelling History” by Madeline Potter
ERIAC is pleased to host the book launch and German language presentation of The Roma: A Travelling History. The author, Madeline Potter, will be present and in conversation with Dr. Anna Mirga Kruszelnicka, Executive Director of ERIAC.
This event is organized in partnership with Ullstein Publishing House and the Romanian Cultural Institute (RKI) in Berlin. It is held in the framework of World Poetry Day – held annually on 21 March as established by UNESCO -, to celebrate Romani authorship and creative writing.
About the Author – Madeline Potter
Madeline Potter is an academic and writer pursuing her career in teaching and research at the University of Edinburgh. She specializes in nineteenth century Gothic literature. Born in 1989, she grew up as a Romani woman in post-communist Romania in the 1990s. She later moved to the United Kingdom to study, where she earned a Doctor of Philosophy in English literature. She writes about Romani history and culture. Her latest publication, The Roma: A Travelling History, was published by The Bodley Head in 2025 in the United Kingdom, followed by its United States edition by Harper Collins.
About the Book – The Roma: A Travelling History
The Roma is a place based history of the Roma across Europe and North America, shaped by centuries of resistance and survival, interwoven with elements of the author’s personal memoir. From Tudor England to present day Romania, from Nazi Germany to twenty first century France, the book presents Roma communities and their struggles. Madeline Potter shows how deep rooted hatred of this minority has persisted for centuries. Above all, she celebrates the strength and endurance of the Roma, and their capacity for resistance and survival.
“At every step of my journey, I encountered the powerful stories of those who resisted their marginalization and whose lives continue to inspire us today.”
Madeline Potter weaves her own biography as a Romani woman with archival research into a compelling narrative. She counters the old cliché of the travelling people with concrete destinies, including that of boxer Johann Rukeli Trollmann, the German light heavyweight champion who was stripped of his title by the Nazis, and that of Carmen Amaya, the Spanish Romani woman widely regarded as the best flamenco dancer in the world in the mid twentieth century.
As Yaron Matras, author of I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies, notes, this is a “book that will inspire and inform. Madeline Potter helps us absorb the atmosphere of Romani communities through the stories of prominent Romani individuals as she shares an engaging and illuminating experience that spans different places and times and offers insights into culture and history”
Publication Details
Approximate length: 328 pages
ISBN: 978 3 549 10069 1
Translated from English by: Wanda Jakob
More information about the author and her work: https://www.madeline-potter.com/books
The publication will be available for purchase during the event through Langer Blomqvist.
We warmly invite you to join us at ERIAC on 20 March at 18:00 for this special evening dedicated to Romani history, literature, and authorship. The event takes place in English language.
