Romania's presence at Gothenburg Book Fair to focus on Bucharest and Jewish themes

Romania’s presence at Gothenburg Book Fair to focus on Bucharest and Jewish themes

Oana Vasiliu 26/09/2023 | 10:41

Romania is set to make its mark at the upcoming Gothenburg Book Fair, which will run from September 28 to October 1. The country will be represented by writer Catalin Dorian Florescu, researcher Felicia Waldman, poet George State, publisher Arina Stoenescu, and illustrator Oana Achitei.

The 39th edition of the fair will feature engaging debates and seminars centered around three major themes: Jewish Culture, the City, and the Sound. These discussions will take place against the backdrop of recent societal and political changes brought about by the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, as stated in a press release by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR).

On September 28, one of the key events at the fair will be the debate titled “The Sephardim and the city of Thessaloniki,” hosted at the Judisk kultur Stage. This discussion, moderated by Anders Hammarlund, will feature renowned researcher Felicia Waldman alongside writers Esther Bendahan from Spain and Leon Saltiel from Greece.

Author Felicia Waldman will also participate in the debate “Sephardim and Ladino: a world that perished” on the same day, alongside Esther Bendahan and Leon Saltiel. Additionally, on the Staden stage, an English-language debate titled “Bucharest – stories from a European metropolis” will take place, with Catalin Dorian Florescu, a Romanian writer residing in Switzerland, as one of the invited participants.

September 29 will see Catalin Dorian Florescu joining the debate “The European metropolis – 100 years of diversity and change,” alongside writers Laimonas Breidis from Lithuania, Piotr Fiedler from Poland, and Dimitri Kapitelman from Ukraine/Germany.

On the Poetry Stage, a discussion about poetry from Romania, Lithuania, Norway, and China will be moderated by Mikael Nydahl, featuring the poet George State.

Two of the Romanian guests, poet George State and researcher Felicia Waldman, will engage in discussions on September 30 at the EUNIC stand. They will explore topics related to “Paul Celan’s Romanian Meridian” and “People and places in Jewish Bucharest.”

Additionally, on September 30 at the EUNIC stand, there will be a debate titled “Between two forms of language: How images build bridges in bilingual books for children, starting from the book Coaja de ou/Egshel” (2023, pioneer press). Illustrator Oana Achitei and author Taliah Pollack will participate in this discussion. Oana Achitei and Arina Stoenescu, representing Romania, are also invited to the Swedish Illustrators stand to support the workshop “Building books and publishing bridges” on the same day.

About the Romanian guests at Gothenburg Book Fair

Cătălin Dorian Florescu was born in Romania in 1967 and emigrated to Zurich in 1982. His most recent work is titled “Turnul de foc” (2022), published by the German publisher C.H. Beck. Florescu’s book “Iacob se hotărăște să iubească/Jakob beslutar sig for att älska” is translated into Swedish and published by 2024. He participated in the Gothenburg Book Fair in 2013 when Romania was the guest country. His most significant literary awards include the Swiss Book Prize in 2011, the Anna Seghers, Josef von Eichendorff, and Andreas Gryphius Literature Awards. In Romania, he has been honored with the Knight’s Medal for Cultural Merits.

Felicia Waldman is a professor at the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, and the coordinator of the Goldstein Goren Center for Jewish Studies. Her expertise covers Jewish mysticism, Romanian Jewish history and heritage, public policies and practices of Holocaust commemoration, interethnic relations, and interfaith dialogue, among other topics. She serves as the Deputy Head of the Romanian Delegation to The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

George State (born 1979) studied philosophy in Cluj and worked as an editor for Idea (since 2007) and Tact (since 2009) publishing houses. He has also translated various theoretical writings by authors like Walter Benjamin and Peter Szondi. He has published poetry collections such as “Crux” (Cartea Românească, 2016) and “Sarx” (Nemira, 2023) and translated the poetic work of Paul Celan into Romanian (Polirom, 2019, 2 volumes). In 2018, State participated in the Romanian-Swedish translation workshop, the tenth edition.

Oana Achiței, born in 1990, works as a graphic designer. She made her debut at the pioneer press publishing house in 2018 with the bilingual children’s book “Album de familie/Familjealbum,” written in both Romanian and Swedish. She has participated in exhibitions such as “Warm up with beautiful books from Romania” (2014) at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the “Ferdinand și Maria” exhibition at the Cotroceni Palace in 2021.

Arina Stoenescu has been living in Sweden since 1987. She is an independent graphic designer, editor, translator, and academic. Currently, she is working on her doctoral thesis on “Typography and Politics in Communist Romania 1948–1989” at the Book History Department of Lund University. Arina Stoenescu is the founder of the micro-publishing house pioneer press, established in 1991, specializing in bilingual books for children and youth.

More Romanian culture

Before the Gothenburg Book Fair, which is dedicated to Jewish culture in 2023, there will be a special performance titled “Pappan, pogromen och parallellen/Dad, the pogrom, and the parallel” at the Tribunalen Theater in Stockholm on September 27, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. The performance will feature actress Adriana Savin in the lead role, followed by a discussion with researcher Felicia Waldman. The performance is dedicated to her father, Lucien Savin (1923-2009), Kapellmeister at the Kungliga Hovkapellet/Royal Chapel in Stockholm, who would have turned 100 this year. The show draws on Holocaust-related themes through excerpts from Mihail Sebastian’s diary (1935-1944) and poignant testimonies from writers Hedi Fried, Primo Levi, and Ludvig Igra.

The Gothenburg Book Fair

The Gothenburg Book Fair, the largest book fair in Scandinavia, was established in 1985, initially as a conference for librarians. The fair has since evolved into one of the most modern and technologically advanced book fairs in the world. A major cultural event in northern Europe, the Gothenburg Book Fair attracts approximately 100,000 visitors annually. In this edition of the fair, 325 debates and lectures are scheduled, with the participation of 828 authors, researchers, and opinion leaders from around the world, specializing in the themes covered in the program. To mark its international opening, the 2023 edition of the book fair will host 118 guests from 38 countries.

Each year, around 1,500 journalists from around the world are accredited to the event, and for a week, it becomes the primary subject of publications and cultural radio and TV programs in Sweden.

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