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14-16 April, Olympia Exhibition Centre,
European Bookshop, Romanian Cultural Institute | | Romania's 8th consecutive participation at the London Book Fair evokes, through the authors and the books reunited in a truly Romanian-British programme, the virtue of literature to precipitate great encounters and revelations: inner, cultural, geographical. At the same time, the events organised at Romania's stand in Olympia Exhibition Centre, at the Romanian Cultural Institute in 1 Belgrave Square and at the European Bookshop near Piccadilly Circus convey the power of words to reveal, through various yet equally legitimate discourses, even the most obscure or intricate facets of identity.
The Romanian programme revolves around two major writers - one Romanian, the other British - who have made their work, each in original way, the privileged space of major discoveries. Our special guest is poet Ana Blandiana, not only one of the most important postwar Romanian authors, but also a tireless campaigner for civic causes and builder of institutions devoted to the conservation of national memory. The other author we are celebrating is Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011), war hero, towering cultural personality and the most revered travel writer in Britain for decades, who transcribed, in hundreds of exquisite pages, the jubilation of his encounter with the people and the landscapes of Romania.
The three days of meetings, dialogues and book launches bring together, as in previous years, writers and academics who forged relevant and enduring links between the Romanian and the British cultural scene: poets Fleur Adcock and Vidyan Ravinthiran, translators Viorica Patea and Paul Scott Derrick, writer Liviu Antonesei, researchers Marius Turda, Daniel Briggs and Dorina Dobre, authors Nigel Shakespear and Ian Macilwain, historian Alan Ogden, journalist Tom Fort, as well as major cultural figures of the Romanian diaspora in the UK - Michael de Styrcea, Şerban Cantacuzino and Marie-Lyse Ruhemann, joined by musicians Nicolas Simion and Sorin Romanescu.
| | 12pm/ Stand 5C120/ Olympia Exhibition Centre/ Hammersmith Road
The Inauguration of the Romanian Stand at the London Book Fair | | | The opening event at Romania's stand in Olympia Exhibition Centre, held in the presence of HE Dr Ion Jinga, the Romanian Ambassador to the Court of St James's, brings together Romanian and British authors, publishers and other professionals from both sides of the English Channel. As of last year's edition of the fair, Romania's stand has been personalised by Romanian graphic designer Zoe Olaru. | | 7pm/ European Bookshop/ 5 Warwick Street
Emblems of Identity: New Romanian Books in English | | The latest Romanian books in English as well as books about Romania signed by British authors are presented at the European Bookshop in the heart of London, home to the only section of books in the Romanian original in the UK. Featuring authors Liviu Antonesei (The Innocent and Collateral Victims of a Bloody War with Russia, Profusion Publishing); Marius Turda (Latin Eugenics in Comparative Perspective, Bloomsbury Publishing House); Daniel Briggs, Dorina Dobre (Culture and Immigration in Context: An Ethnography of Romanian Migrant Workers in London, Palgrave Macmillan); Nigel Shakespear (Times New Romanian: Voices and narrative from Romania, Matador) and Ian Macilwain (In Search of the Village Distilleries of Maramures, Broombank Publishing).
Free entry. Please book in advance. | | 7pm/ RCI London/ 1 Belgrave Square
Dwelling in Words: An Evening with Ana Blandiana | | Poet Ana Blandiana recalls, in the company of some of her most outstanding translators and commentators, her exceptional personal and poetic journey that turned a talented young literary aspirant, with a family background that was undesirable for the communist system, into a legendary writer who, book after book, has distilled the tribulations of a national soul haunted by lies and violence. The special guest's interlocutors are poets Fleur Adcock and Vidyan Ravinthiran, together with translators Viorica Patea and Paul Scott Derrick. Ana Blandiana will read excerpts from My Native Land A4, her most recent book published in English by Bloodaxe Books in 2014.
The dialogues and readings of the evening will be punctuated with musical interventions by saxophonist Nicolas Simion and guitarist Sorin Romanescu, who will introduce to the London audience their newly released "Romanian Impressions" jazz suite.
Free entry. Please book in advance. | | 7pm/ RCI London/ 1 Belgrave Square
The Opening of Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Romanian Romance | | | The exhibition follows, through a collage of old photographs and emblematic excerpts, Patrick Leigh Fermor's Romanian escapades recalled in his hugely successful travel memoirs Between the Woods and the Water and The Broken Road, depicting people and landscapes that were at the root of the author's lifetime affection to Romania. | | 7:30pm/ RCI London/ 1 Belgrave Square
The Enamoured Way: Patrick Leigh Fermor and Romania | | Historian and travel writer Alan Ogden, writer and journalist Tom Fort, as well as some of Patrick Leigh Fermor's friends belonging to the Romanian exile in London - Michael de Styrcea, Şerban Cantacuzino and Marie-Lyse Ruhemann, discuss the famous writer's fascination with Romania, examining his vivid and meaningful perceptions and observations, always informed by solid historical, cultural and linguistic knowledge.
Free entry. Please book in advance. | | | The Romanian presence at the LBF 2015 is organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute's National Book Centre and the Romanian Cultural Institute in London, with the support of the Romanian Embassy, European Bookshop, Romanian Publishers Association and Patrick Leigh Fermor Society. The project is funded by the Romanian Cultural Institute. | | | | | | | | |
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