Mihai Eminescu (Romanian pronunciation: [miˈhaj emiˈnesku]; born Mihail Eminovici) was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul ("The Time"), the official newspaper of the Conservative Party (1880–1918). His first poems volume was published when he was 16 and he went to Vienna to study when he was 19. The poet's manuscripts, containing 46 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, were offered by Titu Maiorescu as a gift to the Romanian Academy during the meeting that was held on January 25, 1902. Notable works include Luceafărul (Evening Star), Odă în metru antic (Ode in Ancient Meter), and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires). In his poems he frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects. In general his work was influenced by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

Petre Ispirescu was a Romanian editor, folklorist, printer and publicist. He is best known for his work as a gatherer of Romanian folk tales, recounting them with a remarkable talent. Petre Ispirescu began to publish Romanian folk stories in 1862, at the incentive of N. Filimon. His first collection of six folk tales appears in Taranul Roman and later as a booklet. Subsequently these tales were added to his renowned collection Romanian Fairy Tales, today a bibliographic rarity. He resumes his publishing work in 1872 with the collection Romanian Folk Tales. Riddles and Proverbs with a preface by B.P. Hasdeu, followed by Folk Anecdotes and Folk Tales in 1874 and The Life and Feats of Mihai Viteazu in 1876. He is praised for the deep and invaluable knowledge of the Romanian folk works.

Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes. Creangă's main contribution to fantasy and children's literature includes narratives structured around eponymous protagonists (Povestea lui Harap Alb, Ivan Turbincă, Dănilă Prepeleac), as well as fairy tales indebted to conventional forms (Povestea porcului, Capra cu trei iezi, Soacra cu trei nurori). Like Swift or Mark Twain, Creangă is more than a story-teller for children or simply a humorist. His work is a human and social document of the ways of thinking and the life of a Romanian village in the nineteenth century. It may seem of restricted interest, owing to the local peasant setting, as well as to the language in which it was written; it carries nevertheless all the joy and pathos of a book of universal significance. Creangă's Memories symbolically picture the destiny of every child walking the path toward maturity and experience. The work inaugurates an original formula in the art of memoir writing, and represents a monument of high spirits and verbal abundance. A jovial verbal torrent, a kind of lexical spree, generously flushes this rhapsody of perennial childhood.