Bookfest, Romanian book festival taking place in Bucharest, was opened night and day for the literature lovers and bookworms. 13,700 square meters accommodated some 150 book stands, packed with over 25,000 titles, four concerts, 11 films previously screened at Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) and much more special events.

  • The set-up was identical with the way the fair was organised last year, so helped with finding one's way between launching areas and book stands. Despite that the book fair is a five pavilion labyrinth, getting lost can be quite a challenge.
  • The fair had its share of "luxury" stands - stands 15 and 16 A and B would make anyone gaze for longer. Pavilions 16 and 17, (C and D) have some sort of book market display. Pavilion 13 (E) was reserved for concerts and screenings.
  • Many readers come to the fair for pavilions C and D - some books, like the one edited by universities, can be bought at book fairs, but cannot be found in libraries.
  • The book fair was quite accessible during the week, with the most readers expected to pack the place for the weekend. The publishers were happy with the sales. Some publishers organised a book launch every half an hour. Others scheduled two talks a day, allowing the speakers to take their time. HotNews notes the speakers team made up of Livius Ciocârlie-Mircea and Martin-Paul Cernat, speaking during the launch of Antoine Compagnon's "Anti-modernists" ("Antimodernii"). Another "team" was met Andrei Cornea, Sorin Vieru, Dan C. Mihăilescu, Ioana Pârvulescu and Emil Hurezeanu, but the latter challenged the public's patience by talking for 40 minutes.
  • Book launches were: pretentious, with 6 speakers for one book; sober, with an academic air; fast, with six books and one speaker; interminable and paranoiac, like a retired persons’ rally on the King's birthday in the University square; interminable and boring; crowded, blocking the corridor; fragile, with 3 people in the audience - if you stop to take part, you’ll do your bit of good deed because you'll boost the participation rate by 25%; among family and friends - you'd better go and have a beer.
  • Marin Page was there, looking like one of his characters: shy, introvert, with his nerves somewhat damaged. He could easily play a likable, crazy scholar. Ioana Parvulescu gave in many details of the "Love story" to the audience. Some will never learn that a country must be discovered.
  • When Alexandrina Hristov sang, people sat on the floor, in a yoga position. It matched the hypnotic jazz, sending you into trance. Some young people were browsing magazines, with a musical background.

Recommendations

The book launch competition was very serious for the last days. A great inconvenience is the fact that the number of speakers is very limited and we see the same faces at various events organised by different publishers, launching from kitchen literature to philosophy. Emil Hurezeanu and Alex Ştefănescu were only two of the preferred speakers.

Several quotes from a book found at the fair: "The circle's quadrature - nobody knows what the is, but you have to pretend that you know when you hear about it"; "Octogenarian- used to describe any old person"; "(Our) Epoch - you have to hate it with a vengeance. To complain that it lacks poetry. To call it a transition, decadent epoch."