Romania will be present at this year’s edition of the London Book Fair, to take place between 19 -21st April 2010, with a national stand organised for the third time in a row by the Romanian Cultural Institute.
The stand will exhibit 700 titles, from 29 Romanian publishers and over 100 translations published abroad with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute. British publisher University of Plymouth Press is the guest of honour of the Romanian stand this year.
On Monday, 19th April, the first day of the fair, at 3 p.m. , the stand will host the presentation entitled “Text-Door Neighbours” starting from the 20 Romanian autors series launched last year by University of Plymouth Press (UPP) with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute. Discussants include Stelian Tănase, whose volume Auntie Varvara’s Clients will be published by UPP this year, and Paul Honeywell, director of UPP. Designer Sarah Chapman, from Peninsula Arts, will present the programme launched by the University of Plymouth, which includes Romanian music and theatre performances. London-based actress Cristina Cătălina will read excerpts from the translations published so far.
On Tuesday, 20th April, from 12 p.m., the Romanian stand will host the presentation entitled „Crime and reason: The Romanian Crime Writers Club enters the (crime) scene“, with the participation of Romanian writers George Arion, Alexander Arion and Oana Stoica-Mujea.
Starting at 3 p.m., the Absinthe13: Spotlight on Romania anthology will be launched, followed by a discussion between Bucharest-based translator and Absinthe co-editor Jean Harris and Romanian writer Stelian Tănase. The volume contains texts by Stelian Tănase, Lucian Dan Teodorovici, Dumitru Ţepeneag, Bogdan Suceavă, Dan Lungu, Nora Iuga, Gheorghe Crăciun, Mircea Cărtărescu, Adriana Bittel, Ştefan Bănulescu, Ştefan Agopian. From 4 p.m. the same day, the Romanian stand will host a discussion between world-famous writer David Lodge and his Romanian translator Radu Paraschivescu, himself a riotously funny author, under the title “Sonata for author and translator”.
On 21st April, starting at 11 a.m., British journalist Anthony Daniels (aka Theodore Dalrymple, The Spectator), together with his special guests, Jessica Douglas-Home and Bob Jarvis, will present the album Kombinat. Industrial Ruins of the Golden Era (published by Romanian publishing house Igloo), and starting at 7 p.m., the Romanian Cultural Institute in London (1 Belgrave Square) will host the public opening of the Kombinat exhibition. The evening will conclude with a special performance by Romanian jazz-singers Maria Răducanu and Maxim Belciug.
The London Book Fair, one of the most important editorial events, brings together over 23,000 professionals from all over the world. For details: www.londonbookfair.co.uk