Gaudeamus Radio Romania Caravan
The Gaudeamus Radio Romania Caravan starts strong, opening the national season of book fairs organised by the public radio broadcaster
Roxana Vasile, 20.03.2025, 13:50
The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corportation Wednesday opened the season of annual book fairs that it has been organizing for over two decades in the country, with the first stage of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Caravan in Craiova.
Until Sunday, the lobby of the “Marin Sorescu” National Theatre in this important city in the south of the country is hosting the most prestigious and beloved publishing houses in the country, Romanian and foreign book distribution agencies, university publishing houses and suppliers of music and educational games, more than 40 participants in total. In fact, with its area of over 420 sq.m. and this number of exhibitors, this year’s fair is a major record.
Readers eager for new releases and special offers have more than 10,000 titles to choose from, many of them for the first time at a book fair. The public are also invited to 20 book launch and signing sessions, roundtables and many competitions with prizes consisting of book packages or book vouchers.
Last but not least, a landmark of this year’s fair is a project called “Top grade guests: Romanian Olympians”, through which Radio Romania rewards excellence in education as proved by the prizes won by young people from Craiova at international Olympiads and competitions.
The honorary president of this year’s edition of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Caravan in Craiova is the famed Romanian-French playwright, poet and journalist Matei Vişniec, whose opening address revolved around the concept of “words”:
Matei Vişniec: “Open any book, read a sentence and think about the words that make it up. What do we know about words? We don’t know everything. A word is like an iceberg, we only see the part above the water. 10% of the word is truly known to us, the rest is a mystery: the history of the word, the development of the word, its meanings. The relationships between words are another form of mystery.”
Matei Vişniec also emphasised the importance of reading:
Matei Vişniec: “I still believe in words and I believe that reading must truly be a permanent national emergency. I agree that nowadays the word is a little threatened by a bizarre empire, an empire of the entertainment industry, which provides other sources of information and emotion.”
The Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair in Craiova is open until Sunday, and access is free of charge. For those who cannot attend physically, there is also an online version of the event, at gaudeamus.ro. Virtual stands, events broadcast live from the site and up-to-date information about new releases can be accessed from anywhere in the world. (AMP)
