Romanian-born playwright Matei Visniec is the honorary president of Radio Romania's Gaudeamus Book Fair.
The Gaudeamus Book Fair has just opened its gates in Bucharest. Organised by Radio Romania, the only radio station in the world to undertake such a project, the fair has turned into a landmark, for both specialists and the larger audience. Hundreds of exhibitors are taking part in this year's edition of the fair, which will host no less than 800 events, including book and audio-book launches, book signing sessions, meetings with writers, historians, publishers, translators, literary critics, political experts, photographers and journalists.
The guest of honour this year is not a country, as it used to be before, but the very European Commission. In this way, the fair celebrates several major events: 60 years since the signing of the Rome Treaty, 30 years since the launch of the Erasmus programme and ten years since Romania joined the European Union.
The honorary president of the fair is this year the famous Romanian-born playwright and journalist Matei Visniec, who talked about the fair on Radio Romania:
"The Gaudeamus Fair is a magical place, a meeting place for great ideas, feelings and educational projects. This is a time when we can all recall that this extraordinary recipient of culture, the book, was born in Europe. To me, the fact that the European Commission is taking part in this event is a way of recalling the simplest and at the same time most profound definition of Europe, namely the place where the book was born as an element of popular culture. It's the place where Gutenberg invented the first printing press in the world, turning the book from an object for the elites into something to be enjoyed by ordinary people, too. The book industry was born in Europe. Public library networks and the circulation of books, and therefore of ideas, are a fabulous European adventure."
Matei Visniec also spoke about the interest that still exists in books, which maintain critical spirit and optimism alive. Matei Visniec:
"There is a big hunger for fiction, for literature, because we cannot understand the human being and the contemporary issues facing the world unless we read novels, poetry, essays and philosophy and unless we go to the theatre. Humans and their contradictions are best reflected in literature."
The Gaudeamus fair, which has been held for two decades now, has so far attracted more than 1.7 million visitors and some 6,200 exhibitors. Radio Romania has thus become a national leader in the field.
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