Romania at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Romanias stand at the latest Frankfurt Book Fair was characterized by a different concept from last year, an improvement appreciated by both visitors and professionals in the book industry.
Corina Sabău, 01.11.2014, 17:04
The new concept was created by an architectural firm together with the Village Museum in Bucharest, which has a long-standing experience when it comes to exhibitions. As for the selection of the writers invited to the fair, the Ministry of Culture this year focused on the young generation. Romania’s participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest event of its kind in Europe, translated into the presence of 29 publishing houses and writers whose works have been translated into German, such as Liliana Corobca and Cosmin Perta. The Romanian stand also hosted readings from two books of poetry by Cristian Popescu, “Stammbaum” and “Familienlokal”, which were translated into German by Ernest Wichner for Hochroth, a Berlin-based publishing house. Anca Fronescu, who is cultural manager, hosted some of the events held by the Romanian stand.
Anca Fronescu: “The stand also hosted a presentation of the most beautiful Romanian books in terms of design. The competition for best book design is a first in Romania, and the winners are on display in Frankfurt on some great bookshelves. Romania’s stand is very modern and eye catching. At a huge event like the Frankfurt Fair, it’s important that people are attracted by your stand.”
The writers invited by the Ministry of Culture to this year’s edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair were Liliana Corobca and Cosmin Perta. The winner of the Young Prose Writer Award of the Year in 2011, Cosmin Perta presented his book “Teofil and the Wooden Dog” brought out by Herg Benet Publishers.
Cosmin Perta: “It was wonderful in Frankfurt. It was my first time at this book fair, which is the biggest in Europe. Even though the fair is mainly focused on the sale of publishing rights, it is wonderful to see so many publishing houses, so many writers and literary agents. It gives you the impression that literature is the most important thing in the world. My book was very well received in Frankfurt and its launch was attended by more people than we were expecting. The most interesting part was the debate that followed, when readers asked me all sorts of questions. The book generated different reactions than in Romania because the German public was mainly interested in totalitarianism and many of their questions were about social and political issues and topical issues in Romania. People were very curious to know whether there were still traces of totalitarianism in Romania and whether people’s mentalities still retained something of the old regime.”
The Frankfurt Book Fair also featured the winners of the European Union Prize for Literature in 2014. The winning titles belong to different genres, from detective stories to historical novels. Established in 2009, this award is granted every year by the European Union to young writers across Europe, irrespective of the language in which they write. Pierre J. Mejlak from Malta is one of the writers who won the European Union Prize for Literature.
One of the guests of the Frankfurt Book Fair was the winner of last year’s European Union Prize for Literature, Marica Bodrozic, who is considered one of the exciting literary voices in Germany, despite the fact that German is not her native language.
Polirom, Casa Radio, Curtea Veche, Humanitas, RAO, Trei, Max Blecher, Monitorul Oficial, Nemira and Niculescu are but some of the publishing houses to have exhibited their book offer at the Romanian stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2014.
