Corneliu M. Popescu (in Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan pronounced as /korˈnelju poˈpesku/; May 16, 1958 – March 4, 1977) was a Romanian translator of poetry who died at the age of 18 in the earthquake of 1977.
A poetry translation prize[1] was established in 2003 in commemoration of his work. Called the Popescu Prize, it is awarded bi-annually by the Poetry Society 'for poetry translated from a European language into English'.[2] In the Guardian Review on 20 September 2003, there appeared an article[3] by the poet Alan Brownjohn about his own participation in judging the award for that year. A segment of a translation Popescu made of one of Mihai Eminescu's poems is reproduced in the article, as is a photograph of Popescu.