Cornelia Golna

Cornelia Golna grew up and studied in the United States. The child of a Greek father and a Romanian mother, she left America as a young woman to search for her roots, a journey that took her to Greece and Turkey, ultimately to communist Romania. She was inspired by her odyssey to delve deeper into the past of her parents' Balkan world to its fascinating predecessor, the dying Ottoman Empire, which became the backdrop of her novel, City of Man's Desire, A Novel of Constantinople. 
The Greek edition of Cornelia's book came out in December 2006, and became an instant bestseller. Published by Σύγχρονοι Ορίζοντες (Synchronoi Orizontes), Thessaloniki & Athens, under the title, Κωνσταντινούπολη, πόλη των πόθων (Konstantinoupoli poli ton pothon), translated by Lydia Polyzopoulou, it remained on the Greek bestsellers' list from January to April 2007. According to an article published in the Greek newspaper, Ta Nea (The News), "Πολιτική εναντίον έρωτα" (Politiki enantion erota: Politics versus love, in its first year, the Greek translation of City of Man's Desire sold 22,500 copies. The Turkish edition, called Arzular Kenti Istanbul, translated by Bilal Çölgeçen, appeared in 2010, brought out by Telos Publishing Company, Istanbul.
Cornelia is also a translator. She has translated works from Romanian, Dutch, and French, including short stories, poetry, literary criticism, and art history. She holds a Master's degree in Classical philologyCornelia Golna lives in the Netherlands and is married to Dutch writer and translator Jan Willem Bos. They have a daughter, Laura.