Romania, "the guest of honor" at the Paris Book Fair
Vice president of ICR, Horia Garbea, is confident that the Paris event will be one that will promote Romanian literature in France.
Articol de Cătălin Gomboş, 25 Martie 2013, 09:20
Controversies related to Romania’s presence at the Paris Book Fair also continued yesterday, at its first day, when several people protested in the Romanian stand against the policy of the Romanian Cultural Institute and wore masks with the faces of some of the writers who boycotted the event.
However, ICR representatives emphasize the importance that Romania is guest of honor at the Salon.
Protesters were presented as artists who have decided to denounce through their gesture the politicization of Romanian culture, the abusive dismissal or denial of funding positions of major cultural projects in Romania.
Paris Book Salon is boycotted by some writers invited by the organizers or by the Romanian Cultural Institute, Mircea Cărtărescu, Neagu Giuvara, Gabriel Liiceanu and Andrei Plesu, whose position were recently criticized by ICR President, Andrei Marga, who, also in these days, came into conflict with the writer Filip Florian.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta renounced the participation to the Book Fair because of the controversies surrounding it.
A number of other writers, including Ana Blandiana, Mircea Dinescu and Writers Union president, Nicolae Manolescu, participate, however, at Paris Book Fair.
The Vice president of ICR, Horia Garbea, is confident, in an interview with our colleague Roxana Vasile, that the event will be one that will promote the Romanian literature in France.
"The important thing is to have enough books, that all authors arrived and that we are on the threshold of a truly unprecedented event and especially I wish, first of all, as writers, each of the authors who come here to be glad, to be happy for their contact with foreign audiences both demanding and important as the French public, "said Horia Garbea.
Romania is guest of honor at the Paris Book Fair, attended by more than 50 Romanian authors and there are presented over 1,000 titles in Romanian and over 600 book titles translated into French.
Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea
MTTLC, Bucharest University
