Romanian
\nliterature as part of the wider family of European literature was the topic of
\na debate held on the first day of the London Book Fair held over March 12-14.
\nSpecial guests were European Union Literature Prize recipients Ioana Parvulescu
\nand Claudiu Florian. The attendance included translators, writers, journalists,
\nacademia, British officials and readers passionate about Romanian literature.
\nRomanian-born American writer Andrei Codrescu was the protagonist of another
\nevent, the launch of his latest poetry volume, No Time Like Now. It was in
\nfact a recital of poetry and music, with poetry readings intertwined with
\npieces performed by pianist Mina Beldimanescu. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Romania’s participation in the
\nLondon Book Fair has become a landmark, not just for Romanian culture
\nconsumers, but intellectuals interested in European culture in general.
\nEvidence of that were the speeches of our British partners, literary critic
\nRazvan Voncu said, himself a participant in the London Book Fair. Romania was
\nwell represented in the Paris Book Fair as well, held over March 15-18, bringing
\ntogether 1,200 publishers, 35,000 authors from nearly 100 countries and
\ntotaling some 180,000 guests. The last edition slightly broke with the
\ntradition of having one country as guest of honor to celebrate, instead, for
\nthe first time in the history of the fair, Europe as a whole. 35 Romanian
\npublishers took part in the fair. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian Cultural Institute played host
\nto debates and book launches under the slogan 2019 – The Year of Romania in
\nEurope. The excellent relations between Romania and France and Romania and
\nEurope as a whole was the topic of a debate titled 30 years after Returning to
\nEurope, devoted to the three decades free of communism. Another successful
\nevent hosted by Romania’s pavilion featured traveller and storyteller Estelle Cantala,
\nwho told the audience about her experience collecting folk tales in Maramures,
\nNorthwestern Romania. A round table was devoted to Panait Istrati, whose works
\nin French are internationally acclaimed. An overt leftist advocate, Istrati
\ntravelled extensively to the Soviet Union accompanied by communist officials,
\nwhich earned him the nickname Maxim Gorki of the Balkans. Istrati visited the
\nUSSR in the first years of Stalin’s dictatorship and became one of the first
\nintellectuals to condemn the horrors of the Soviet regime. EU Commissioner for
\nEconomic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, himself the son of a
\nRomanian-born psychologist, visited the fair and held a press conference,
\nreiterating the EU’s support for publishers and literature in general. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian literature was well represented in the most important book fairs held this month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":81078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[33396,33276,39607,39606,39550],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-london-book-fair","tag-paris-book-fair","tag-pierre-moscovici","tag-razvan-voncu","tag-romanian-literature"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n