Gaudeamus Book Fair 100, Radio Holydays 50
The Gaudeamus Book Fair reaches its 100th edition, while Radio Holydays celebrates its 50-year anniversary.
Ştefan Stoica, 14.08.2017, 12:07
The Gaudeamus Book Fair has reached its 100th edition, while Radio Holydays, a public radio summer broadcast for the sea coast, has celebrated its 50-year anniversary. The public radio has marked these two special moments in its history with exhibitions, concerts given by the radio orchestras and encounters with its fans on the Black Sea coast.
As all book lovers agree, the Gaudeamus Book Fair is one of Radio Romanias best cultural products, alongside the concerts given by its orchestras. The international edition of this fair, a genuine barometer of the Romanian publishing scene, is its most visible and prestigious event. It is held every year at the beginning of November in Bucharest and, for five days, becomes the epicentre of cultural life in the capital and beyond.
The data say it all. In its more than 20 years of existence, the Gaudeamus Book Fair has attracted more than 1.6 million visitors and 5,800 exhibitors, featuring more than 8,500 different events. These figures justify the comment made by the interim director general of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation Georgica Severin, who said the Gaudeamus fair is a genuine industry, with an already well-defined role as far as educating the public is concerned. This is not only because of its international editions, but also thanks to its regular presence in the main cultural centres around the county. “There are dedicated people who work for a whole year on preparing these culminating moments when we go back to the fundamental source, namely books”, Severin also said.
Another important celebration for the public radio is the anniversary of 50 years since Radio Holydays, one of the best-liked broadcasts in the country, started being aired on the Black Sea coast. Today, this broadcast is provided by Radio Constanta.
From its first programme until 1994, however, Radio Holydays was the work of some excellent journalists from Radio Romania International, who were responsible for its news casts, its programmes and its interviews in Romanian and four different foreign languages, namely English, French, German and Russian. It is there that the likes of Paul Grigoriu, who is no longer with us, and of Doina Caramzulescu became famous. Sheltered, during the communist era, from the ideological constraints that kept Romania in check, Radio Holidays was a summer-time alternative to the rigid and deeply politicised rules that governed the public radio station at that time.
