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The 16th edition of the Bookfest International Book Fair is opening its gates on Wednesday in Romexpo Pavilion B2, with Italy Guest of Honour country, and with former president Emil Constantinescu, Andrei Plesu, Gabriel Liiceanu, Dan C. Mihailescu, Radu Paraschivescu, Adrian Majuru, Teodor Baconschi or Filip-Lucian Iorga among the authors who will be presenting new titles this year.
This year's edition will be officially opened at 12:00, at the ARENA stage, in a ceremony to which the minister of Culture, Lucian Romascanu, Italian Ambassador to Romania Alfredo Maria Durante Mangoni, presidential advisor Sergiu Nistor, as well as the president of the Association of Romanian Publishers (AER), Grigore Arsene, have been invited.
More than 200 exhibitors from all over the country and the Republic of Moldova, as well as cultural institutes with representatives in Bucharest, will be present daily, starting Wednesday and until May 28, informs AER, the organizer of the event.
The organizers promise, this year, too, spectacular discounts, about one million volumes, including 3,000 new titles, over 400 book launches and debates, over 60 events dedicated to children, with the participation of the most famous Romanian authors, round tables dedicated to the state of written culture and musical recitals.
This edition's Guest of Honour country is Italy, which offers book lovers an abundant programme, including over 30 events - from book launches to debates and children's activities.
Twelve Italian authors will take part in events and debates during the book fair: Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Vichi De Marchi, Helena Janeczek, Nicola Lagioia, Federica Manzon, Melania Mazzucco, Piergiorgio Odifreddi, Vanni Santoni, Andreea Simionel, Stenio Solinas, Matteo Strukul, Marcello Veneziani, with almost half of the Italian guests already present on the local market with works translated into Romanian.
In addition, eight Italian publishers - Mondadori Libri, Editrice Il Castoro, Edra, Reggio Children, Hoepli, Keller Editore, White Star, Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson - will exhibit a wide range of works in the Italian Pavilion at Bookfest, from prose to essays and children's literature, history and more, and will offer a broad and up-to-date overview of Italian publishing production.
Dedicated to the centennial of the birth of Italo Calvino, the exhibition "Italian Excellence. Illustrations for Italo Calvino" curated by Accademia Drosselmeier/Cooperativa Giannino Stoppani and organised by the Emilia-Romagna Regional administration with the Bologna Children's Book Fair and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, will be hosted outside the Italian Pavilion. As many as 31 illustrations by established artists who have given their own interpretation of Calvino's texts will be on display.
A project co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, Bookfest has local editions in Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Targu Mures, Brasov and an international edition in Chisinau.
The Bookfest International Book Fair is organized by the Association of Romanian Publishers, under the aegis of the Federation of Romanian Publishers, with the support of the Italian Embassy in Bucharest, the Italian Trade Agency and the Italian Cultural Institute of Bucharest.AGERPRES
