The 2014 Bookfest International Book Fair

Nearly 1 million volumes, among which thousands of new releases, were on display as part of the 9th Bookfest International Book Fair, held in Bucharest in late May.

Monica Chiorpec, 26.07.2014, 01:55

Besides the large number of books, organizers prepared some 300 cultural events, including book launches, public debates, conferences, screenings and interactive workshops for adults and children, Q&A sessions with famous authors. This year’s highlights included encounters with well-established authors that have unfairly been excluded from the contemporary literary community.

Here is poet, novelist and translator Nora Iuga: ”I believe I am the last of a generation of writers who personally knew certain lady poets who passed away. This year we will celebrate 100 years since the birth of Maria Banus, which is why I’ve been invited to all sorts of events to give lectures about her. Nina Cassian is another such writer. Sanda Golopentia has approached me recently, giving me a book called “Our Life”, a novel where she speaks about her mother, Stefania Golopentia. She was my teacher back in high school. I loved her a lot and it is owing to her that I became a poet”.

Maria Banus made her literary debut in 1937 with a poetry volume called “The Land of Young Girls”. The book immediately arrested the attention of literary critics, including G. Calinescu, who wrote about it in “The History of Romanian Literature from Its Origins to the Present”.

Here is Nora Iuga again: “I met Maria Banus at a time when she was being shut out, it’s harsh to say this, I know, but it’s the truth. No one ever wanted to talk to her, everyone turned their back on her. It was 1971-1972, right after the so-called “cultural revolution”. Her sons had left the country, moving to the West. This was every man’s dream at the time, and Maria Banus took a heavy toll for their departure. Those were harsh communist times, and Maria Banus was one of the pinnacles of Romanian literature. I’ve always thought it must be terrible to fall into oblivion after being a great writer. Maria Banus must have known great sorrow. When she turned 75, she was in Romania, and I wrote an article about her in Romania Literara magazine, saying she was the only Romanian woman poet worthy of the title “the great lady of Romanian poetry”. I was often criticized for commending her”.

Poland was the guest of honour at the 9th Bookfest International Book Fair. Under the slogan “ Quo vadis Poland?” Towards the next Nobel”. the Polish Institute prepared a series of events meant to promote Polish literature and enhance the Romanian readership’s interest in Poland’s contemporary authors, as well as in Polish classical authors.

More details on that – from poet and prose writer Ciprian Macesaru: ”I participated in two book launches at the Bookfest Fair. The first one was the launch of a Wislawa Szymborska anthology, hosted by the Polish Institute. The second one was the launch of a novel by a Polish author we were happy to meet at the book fair. His name is Janusz Wisniewski, and the title of his novel is “ Loneliness on the Internet.” The well-known poet Wislawa Szymborska, was the winner of the Nobel Prize in 1996. The novelty point of the anthology is that it includes poems from the author’s recent volumes, which are indicative of the renewal capacity the Polish poet’s language had. She manages to speak about the same universal topics, looking closely at problems which are easy to spot nowadays. There is an extraordinary poem about 9/11 2001. There is a poem dealing with the issue of racism. There are poems about what we’ve got, about what we’ve been given , about the things we need to come to terms with. With Szymborska, there’s always a parallel between man’s frailty and the infinite Universe, unfathomable, always silent. The second launch l attended was of a totally different kind of book. The author comes from the world of science. Wisniewski creates computer programmes for chemistry. He started writing rather late, “Loneliness on the Internet” being his maiden novel. However, the book enjoyed a remarkable success. If we tried to find something similar in Romania, we couldn’t find it. In Russia alone, one million copies were sold, now in its 11th edition, the novel has already been adapted for stage. In Poland, the book has been brought to the screen!”

Visitors had free access to the “ Bookfest” Book Fair. Films were screened, which had been were awarded prizes in international festivals, and which were offered by the Hungarian Institute in Bucharest, the Embassy of Norway, the French Institute in Bucharest, as well as the Polish Institute.