Writers at the 11th edition of Bookfest International Book Fair

Join us behind the doors of this fair which enjoyed the participation of 100,000 visitors and of such prominent writers like Zeruya Shalev of Israel or Nora Iuga of Romania

Corina Sabău, 16.07.2016, 14:00

The 11th edition of Bookfest International Book Fair was held between June 1-5 at the Romexpo exhibition centre in Bucharest. Mihai Mitrica, executive director for the Romanian Publishers Association, the organizer of the event, says some 100,000 people visited the fair. The meeting with Zeruya Shalev was one of the highlights of the 2016 edition of Bookfest, which was attended by six top-notch Israeli authors. “Pain is Zeruya Shalevs fifth novel, which was brought out by Polirom Publishers in the Romanian language version. Der Spiegel describes it as “Zeruya Shalevs best novel.

While meeting with Romanian readers at Bookfest, writer Zeruya Shalev was asked about the idea behind the novel “Pain: “I started to think about the idea of this novel when I started to be aware of this tendency of many people to be more fascinated, more attracted to their past than to their future or present. And I dont mean very old people. For example, I started to see many friends of mine looking for old friends in the Facebook, looking for evidence from their childhood, looking for memories. So I realized it can start when you are 30, when you are 30-40. You dont have to be very grown-up in order to realize that there is still something in past that fascinates you, even more than in future. I was wondering about this phenomenon, and then I decided to start to build a story around this idea in order to explore it, in order to understand what can be so attractive. And then I thought this is the most romantic way to create this encounter, between the past and the future or the present through the love of your youth. It is such a mythological love, such a memorable love, that is sometimes really very difficult to be released from, especially if it was so tragic and full of pain like the love my character experienced when she was 17.

Celebrated in this years edition of Bookfest International Book Fair, writer Nora Iuga was dedicated an anniversary volume by Paralela 45 Publishing House, to mark the writers 85 birthday anniversary. Nora Iuga also had a number of surprises in store for the reading public: the poetry volume “Listen to the parentheses crying, brought out by Cartea Romaneasca Publishers, and the re-publishing of the novel “The two-grace swan, brought out by Polirom Publishers. “This is perhaps Nora Iugas most challenging novel, as the author really likes to play with the readers, keeping them at a distance. Nora Iuga is a writer of the world. Throughout her works, she switches between games, playing, she challenged herself on numerous occasions, translating many books and standing in their shadow. Of all the pieces of this puzzle, this remains her most radical work, literary critic Alexandru Matei wrote in the preface to the book.

Nora Iuga: “This book is very special, because back when I read James Joyces Ulysses, I sort of identified with Mollys character, and I liked her so much that I decided to write a novel to reflect my inner monologue. And it has been a successful experiment. This book was written in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, but also in Sibiu, in trains, parks, cemeteries, coffee shops, in the street, and this text was permanently taking shape inside my head. I was going through desperate times, but I also felt free, so writing the book took over a year. For this reason, because it was driven by a continuous impulse to write, it is quite difficult to read, it has no punctuation marks, everything is written in small caps, and for this reason you cant tell the difference between poetry and prose.

The Humanitas Publishers organized over 30 events for this years edition of Bookfest International Book Fair. Of these, a couple were devoted to the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran, whom readers can discover in the new releases “Notebooks. 1957-1972, “Cioran and Music, “Laceration, as well as in the audiobook “Tears and Saints, read out by actor Razvan Vasilescu. The anthology “Cioran and Music is aimed at re-ordering the “musical fragments in Ciorans work in a book that might tempt the author himself. There are many music references in Ciorans books, from radical appraisals to inspired collocations.

Writer Ioana Parvulescu: “Ciorans work has a devastating effect on some readers. Some of my students told me that Cioran should be banned, because reading him leads you commit suicide. But others, myself included, say that Cioran doesnt have a negative effect, on the contrary, his works have quite the hilarious effect. Today I chose to refer to the Cioran and Music anthology, although the “Notebooks is my favourite of all of Ciorans works. This book is the most atypical of his writings, in light of all the biases we have in mind with respect to this author. It is his most unusual work. As Monica Lovinescu said, Cioran in this book doesnt even resemble his shadow. This book reveals a bright Cioran, a faithful one, a side of him that I always knew was there.

Sales in this years edition of Bookfest were 10% higher than last year, also due to the increase of sales in the childrens books section and to the stellar presence of this years guest of honour, Israel.