{"id":137082,"date":"2022-07-12T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devrri.freshlemon.ro\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/an-online-gathering-of-women-debating-books-137082.html"},"modified":"2024-02-19T17:13:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T15:13:42","slug":"an-online-gathering-of-women-debating-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/inside-romania\/an-online-gathering-of-women-debating-books-id137082.html","title":{"rendered":"An online gathering of women debating books"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

It all began in Iasi, north-eastern Romania, in 2020. It brought
\ntogether women from all walks of life, who gathered around books. And, since they
\ngot together in a Spanish restaurant, they baptized their own gathering there
\nin Spanish, using a play-upon-words, Mujeres livres,<\/em> with the play-upon-words using
\nlibro and livro in Spanish and where mujeres<\/em> stands for women, also in Spanish.
\nFree, book-loving women, in English. It is the name of a reading club for women.
\nCezarina Caloian is an artist and an associate professor with the Graphic Arts
\nSection of the Iasi-based Fine Arts Faculty. She told us who exactly came up
\nwith the idea for the reading club.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cezarina Caloian:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The two founders, Arina Cosma and Florina Virna of Iasi
\ncame up with the idea. The club made its debut in the winter of 2020. We had a
\ncouple of physical meetings, then during the lockdown and for the first months of
\nthe pandemic we had to cancel our meetings, then we went online, and we have ever
\nsince stayed like that, we meet once in three weeks, and all women who would
\nlike to do that can join in, since there also is an online community Florina
\nVarna has managed to organize very well. There’s 10 of us, or thereabouts, members
\nwho have been participating constantly ever since the project took off, then
\nthere are also people who join in once, maybe twice, or people who join in and remain
\nin the project.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here is what another participant, Lavinia Popescu, told us about the
\nproject of the reading club. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lavinia Popescu:<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is a reading club proper, we get together to discuss
\nbooks as a book doesn’t end once you’ve finished reading all its pages, it has
\na life of its own through the discussions it stirs and that is how you feel you
\nhonor its author for all that they offered, you want to discuss what you felt, with
\nthe others. It could be the pleasure of the text, the tenderness of the story
\nor the self-discovery experience you had. When you read a book, you feel you
\nare not alone. You feel you also want to share with the others what you felt,
\nand, especially, you want to find out from the others what they felt. That is exactly
\nthe reason why this reading club was necessary. It is just as natural for us to
\nfeel inclined to be part of a community capable of providing a secure space, a
\nspace where you can express yourself and, especially, a space you can be part
\nof. That is exactly why we have this group of women, which is a support group
\nand, every time we meet, we really get our kicks out of listening to each other. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lavinia Popescu recalled the first meetings of the club, and how the
\nmeetings progressed. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the first meeting we had, I think we were about
\n20 people who were happy to be together, it was a surprise for every one of us,
\nand then the pandemic broke out. During the pandemic, the reading club kept us
\ncompany, it provided survival resources for all of us. Through reading, we discovered
\nhow humankind survived and, for us, that only buttressed a strong pillar of the
\nconfidence whereby that was something we were going to get it over with,
\ncompletely. Together, we have read the stories of deportation and survival in
\nthe Siberian Gulag, through the book titled Zuleikha, open your eyes <\/em>(a
\nnovel authored by Russian writer Guzel Yakhina). We saw how people lived with
\nthe bombs swooshing over their heads, through the books of Khaled Hosseini (and
\nAfghan-American writer, born in 1965). We learned about acceptance from the Winters
\nof the Soul<\/em>, by Katherine May, The 40 Rules of Love<\/em> gave us comfort
\nthrough the Sufi wisdom ( The 40 Rules of Love, <\/em>a book authored by Elif Shafak). When I look at the
\nshelf with the books we read at the club, I can only be grateful for the
\njourney I took together with the community we have created and I want us to be
\nable to enlarge the community, so that as many women as possible can draw their
\ninspiration from there, for their daily lives.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cezarina Caloian:<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We read all sorts of books, from Elif Shafak,
\nHosseini Khaled, Maria Duena, Zafon (n.r. Carlos Ruiz Zaf\u00f3n). We read Vargas
\nLlosa as well as Romanian authors, Laura Ionescu, with her book I Can’t Find
\nYou Anywhere,<\/em> actually we had her as a guest in one of our online meetings. And the titles we chose are somehow from
\nvarious cultural spaces, from various types of literature. At the end of a meeting,
\nwe decide upon the book for our following meeting. Every participant reads the
\nbook, makes notes, highlights certain interesting aspects and for the online
\ndiscussion, moderated by one of the founders of the club, Gearina Cosma, the discussion actually revolves around various
\ninteresting aspects, characters, episodes in the book, we share our own
\nopinion, polemic discussions are also generated. What’s also interesting is the
\nfact that joining the club are women from various walks of life, women with
\ndifferent backgrounds. We’re physicians, psychiatrists, therapists, psychologists,
\nwe’re people activating in healthcare, artists, IT specialists, students, and
\nthen everyone of us comes up with an original interpretation of the text, for
\nour discussion. And for me, that’s exactly where the beauty of our meeting lies.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lavinia Popescu told us the choice of the books was made democratically,
\nthrough voting, and that one of the greatest joys was for every participant to
\nshare the impressions they got, in connection with this or that book. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s not just the sheer pleasure of
\nreading, it is also a means of self-knowledge through reading. And then we feel
\nhappy to have the opinion of someone who is a philologist, for instance, the
\nopinion of a psychologist, what the opinion was of somebody else, no matter what
\ntheir background was. We collect ideas, we jot them down, or we don’t, that
\nhelps each and every one of us. In general, we’re a nucleus made of seven
\npeople who gather every time, but there are also other people joining in, for each
\nand every online meeting. We’re open to anyone who wants to participate in our meetings.
\nThe fact that we have them online
\nand not only physically, that is also a good point. Oftentimes we intend to meet
\nphysically, but the fact that we’re going online helps other people join us, people
\nfrom other cities.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Therefore, if you feel the need to meet women
\nwho are passionate about books, you can join in for the Mujeres Livres online
\nmeetings by posting a message on the club’s Facebook page. <\/p>\n

(EN)<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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