Gaudeamus 2020 – back to books
While held online, Radio Romania Gaudeamus 2020 still has all the ingredients of a conventional book fair.
Corina Cristea, 17.11.2020, 13:45
The 27th edition of the Radio Romania
Gaudeamus International Book Fair got under way in Bucharest, being held this
year exclusively in online format. The honorary president of the festival is
the Romanian-born writer Norman Manea, who has been living in the United States
for more than 30 years:
In this state of tension, a stubborn promotion of
culture is a welcome act and I’m happy that the organisers thought of an exile
like me, who is, as you know, still very attached to his country and his
language, which he considers his home.
The book fair brings together over 100 participants,
including publishers and distributors of Romanian and foreign books, music and
educational games. They can all be found on a new website at www.gaudeamus.ro, in the Catalogue section,
which includes special individual presentations created in partnership with
elefant.ro. Book lovers can buy the books they’re interested in from online
stalls. Hundreds of events will be available online, whether in live streaming or
recorded. The first day of the festival already saw dozens of book presentations
and launches. Georgica Severin, the president and director general of Radio
Romania, said the fair could continue to have an online component in the
post-Covid era, thus reaching a wider public:
It’s as if this pandemic has made people hungry for
culture once more. The isolation or self-isolation made us go back to books, both
in their classic paper format and in electronic format. It made us rediscover
the small joys, the joy of knowing that we’re healthy. All these things
together have created an atmosphere favourable to a book fair, even in a digital
format.
The Gaudeamus fair also features some special
events, such as a competition called I Want an Ideal School, where
children and teachers can send messages about how they cope with remote learning
during this health crisis and how they see the ideal school, where they could feel
safe, motivated and appreciated. The messages will then be grouped into short
reports, and the best will receive an award from Radio Romania. Exhibitors will
also donate books and educational materials to create a library that will be
awarded to the winning schools. (CM)
