DISCOVER THE PEAKS OF ROMANIAN LITERATURE!

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Romania and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Prague invite you to discover Romanian literature and culture at over 50 events held by Romania, guest of honour at the 18th Book World Prague international book fair. Visitors to Romania’s offerings at the fair will not want for literary events, which include book launches, discussions, author’s and staged readings, live theatre and film screenings. And, of course, traditional folk art will also be represented.
On the Romanian national stand the latest published works from Romania will be on display, comprising:

  • • poetry, prose, stage plays
  • • art publications
  • • books for children
  • • cookery books
  • • guides and tourist´s albums
  • • the very latest translations from the Romanian published in Czech and Slovak .

The national stand will also host author’s readings by invited guests from Romania (the writers Gabriela Adameşteanu, Ştefan Caraman, Svetlana Cârstean, Gabriel Chifu, Petru Cimpoeşu, Mircea Dinescu, Florin Lăzărescu, Ovidiu Nimigean, Simona Popescu, Nicolae Prelipceanu, Răzvan Rădulescu and Adina Rosetti), staged readings (performed by LiStOVáNí, the DivaDno theatre and the Theatre of East Bohemia in Pardubice), book launches and presentations. The stand will be the venue for mini-concerts by the Nicolae Voiculeţ Band and the Konick quartet as well as interactive workshops led by artists Veronica Neacşu and Mihaela Paraschivu of Illustrators’ Club Romania.

Romanian and Czech writers have accepted invitations to appear in literature-based discussions on the following themes:

  • • Before 1989 only literature spoke the truth
  • • The post-communist period as reflected in literature
  • • A poet writes a nove
  • • Turning reality into fiction

Romanian writers will be involved in the following presentations:

  • • From literature to film
  • • Women’s voices: On past and future lives
  • • Literature from the Black Sea
  • • European Union Prize for Literature
  • • From the shores of the Black Sea

At the fair you will find five Romanian exhibitions: The History of Romanian Comics (artist and curator Alexandru Ciubotariu – a.k.a. Pisica Pătrată a.k.a. Ciubi), Around the Black Sea (artist and curator Petruţ Călinescu), Contemporary Romanian Writers: Faces and Secrets (artist and curator Mircea Struţeanu), Ion Luca Caragiale in Humorous Graphic Art in Romania and the Czech Republic (curator Nicolae Ioniţă), I. L. Caragiale in Photographs of Performances and on Banknotes, Postcards and Postage Stamps, Editio Princeps (curator Luminiţa Anghelescu).
By the entrance to the Palace of Industry you have an opportunity to discover the mastery of folk artists from the ethnographically rich region around Alba Iulia, together with the Augustin Bena folk ensemble. You can try for yourselves Romanian-style pottery and weaving.
Any survey of Romanian culture must include film. The Atlas cinema will premiere the film Hello! How Are You? (directed by Alexandru Maftei) with Czech subtitles and six films by the screenwriter Răzvan Rădulescu that have won prizes at international film festivals (The Paper Will Be Blue; The Death of Mr Lăzărescu; Principles of Life; Goods and Money; First of All, Felicia; Tuesday, After Christmas).
So let us invite you to discover Romania through its literature, music, animated film, photography, theatre, cinema and traditional art!

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Romania supports and promotes creativity in today's Romania and facilitates dialogue between cultures. The Ministry of Culture is the organizer of national stands at the book fairs in Budapest, Prague, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Istanbul and Bologna, thus facilitating dialogue between Romanian writers and publishers on the one hand and their partners in different parts of the world on the other. (www.cultura.ro)

The Romanian Cultural Institute in Prague promotes Romanian culture and the Romanian language in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Its stated aim is the raising of the visibility of cultural values that are part of Romania’s heritage as well its present cultural values. In pursuit of this aim it organizes (independently or in cooperation with Czech and foreign partners) cultural, academic and scientific events and courses in Romanian language free of charge. (www.icr.ro/praha)