In October 2017, she was announced as The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry's twelfth recipient of their Lifetime Recognition Award.

[3] Her parents were Gheorghe (1915-1964), an orthodox priest and former member of the fascist Iron Guard[4] who spent years in Communist prisons and died in an accident weeks after his release in a general amnesty, and Otilia (Diacu), an accountant.

After her debut in 1959, in Tribuna, Cluj, where she signed for the first time as Ana Blandiana, she was published in the anthology 30 de poeți tineri ("30 Young Poets").

In 1963, after a four-year interdiction due to her father's status,[citation needed] she again published in Contemporanul (edited by George Ivașcu).

She gave two televised readings in 1969, in the company of Andrei Șerban and the actors Irina Petrescu, Mariana Mihuț, and Florian Pittiș.

[6] After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, she entered political life, campaigning for the removal of the communist legacy from administrative office, as well as for an open society.

Ora de nisip ("The Hour of Sand") has been translated into English by Peter Jay and Anca Cristofovici.