Radio România Internațional

Tag: Book Fair

  • November 16, 2016

    November 16, 2016

    HEARING – The president of the Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania, Ana Maria Pătru, is to be heard by judges today, after the National Anti-Corruption Directorate requested her arrest pending trial. She was detained last night under charges of influence peddling and money laundering. Pǎtru allegedly demanded and received over 200,000 euros in bribe in exchange for implementing IT procurement contracts with a particular company, and tried to conceal the source of the money by setting up a fictitious circuit. Ana Maria Pătru announced her resignation as head of the Permanent Electoral Authority.




    CORRUPTION – The ex-MEP Adrian Severin is to find out today whether he must serve a harsher sentence instead of the three and a half year imprisonment ruling initially passed against him. Anti-corruption prosecutors requested penalties of 6 and a half years for bribe taking and 5 years for influence peddling. Adrian Severin is accused of having accepted the 100,000 euros per year promised by two journalists from The Sunday Times, who were running an undercover investigation, in exchange for submitting amendments in the specialised committees of the European Parliament. Two other MEPs, from Slovenia and Austria, also accepted to sell their services to The Sunday Times journalists. Unlike Adrian Severin, they resigned following this corruption scandal.




    ECONOMY – In Romania, the hard-won macroeconomic balance must be preserved, the governor of the National Bank of Romania Mugur Isărescu warned once again. The central bank official says that in spite of Romanias economic growth, encouraging demand and consumption has created jobs in other countries rather than in Romania, given that the demand has been primarily met by imports, which are going up at a much faster rate than exports. Financial-banking analysts estimate that Romania needs a 5% annual growth rate for a long period if it is to recover its development delays compared to Western Europe.




    BOOK FAIR – Bucharest is hosting until Sunday the 23rd Gaudeamus International Book and Education Fair, the longest-lived and most dynamic book fair in Romania, organised by Radio Romania. The highlights of this years fair include events devoted to the Romanian film industry, attended by the directors Cristian Mungiu and Radu Jude, and some of the most recent international releases launched in their Romanian version. This years guest of honour is China. During its 96 editions in various Romanian cities in 20 years of existence, the fair has brought together more than 2,600,000 visitors and some 10,500 special events.




    US PRESIDENT – The US President Barack Obama will give a speech in Athens today on his views on democracy. Yesterday, during a meeting with his Greek counterpart, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Obama pleaded for a strong, united and thriving Europe. Greece is the first destination in the last foreign trip made by Obama as President of the USA. In Europe, Obama will have meetings with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the President of France, Francois Hollande and the Prime Ministers of UK and Italy. He will then travel to Peru, to attend the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Summit. The outgoing White House leader intends to reassure his European allies of the future of the trans-Atlantic relations, amid concerns triggered by the intentions of his successor, Donald Trump.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • August 25, 2016

    August 25, 2016

    EARTHQUAKE In Italy, thousands of rescuers are trying to find among the debris survivors of the earthquake that hit a mountain area in the center of the country on Tuesday night. According to the latest toll, some 250 people have died and hundreds are wounded. Five Romanian citizens are among the dead, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced. Another 11 are missing. Two mobile consular teams are providing ground assistance to the Romanians in the areas affected by the quake. More on this after the news.



    MOLDOVA On his first formal visit to the Republic of Moldova, the former soviet country with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, Romania’s Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has met with his counterpart Pavel Filip. Ciolos has stated that the Romanian Government’s goal is to improve the Moldovan citizen’s situation and it fully supports the reforms that the Moldovan authorities have decided to implement. Dacian Ciolos has announced that on Wednesday Romania disbursed the first installment of the 60 million Euro reimbursable loan to the Republic of Moldova. In turn, Pavel Filip has stressed that Romania is a close and dedicated friend to the Republic of Moldova, proof of that standing the bilateral strategic partnership for European integration. The Moldovan Prime Minister has stated that the main priority with regard to bilateral relations is energy cooperation, especially on extending the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipe-line.



    VISIT European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger is on a two-day formal visit to Bucharest. He will meet with the Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, Communication and Information Society Minister Delia Popescu and Culture Minister Corina Sutenu. Commissioner Oettinger will give a speech in the opening of the conference titled Digitalisation – the Future of Europe and will also take part in the round table: Economy, Currency and Digital Revolution: Challenges for Europe, organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. On the last day of the visit he will hold talks with representatives of the creative industry and will meet with Romanian film makers at the Bucharest Cinema Studio.



    SECURITY The security situation in the east and south of NATO is the main topic of discussion in Ankara today, between Turkey, Romania and Poland. The Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu, who is attending the three-party meeting, will reiterate Romania’s support for the Ankara authorities and will stress Turkey’s importance at regional level as NATO ally and a key partner to the EU. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the agenda of talks also includes the measures that need to be taken to implement the decisions made at the NATO summit in Warsaw. We recall that, among other things, a decision was made in Warsaw to set up a multi-national brigade in Romania and to deploy four battalions in Poland and in the three Baltic countries.



    BOOK FAIR Romania, who is a guest of honour at the 2016 International Book Fair in Beijing, has prepared many cultural events, book launches, exhibitions, music recitals and theatre performances. An album and a film devoted to composer George Enescu will be launched today, followed by a recital by the Romanian violinist Andrei Mihail. On Wednesday, the Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Beijing, Constantin Lupeanu, dubbed the greatest sinologist in the world, got the Special Book Award, China’s most prestigious distinctions in the field, for translating and publishing more than 30 Chinese books. The Romanian stand has on display more than 1200 albums and books, published by 20 publishing houses, as well as translations from Romanian authors, published with the support of the National Book Centre. At this edition of the fair, there are another 15 guests of honour from central and eastern Europe, besides Romania.



    SYRIA Syrian rebels supported by the Turkish army have taken control over the town of Jarabulus, in northern Syria, near the border with Turkey, from Islamic State jihadists. Turkish tanks have today crossed the Syrian border as part of the offensive launched by Ankara to oust the jihadists from this Syrian town. Turkey is thus trying to prevent the Kurdish militias from getting control over the town and to open a corridor for the Syrian anti-government rebels, a Turkish official has stated. The same official has mentioned that Ankara will carry on operations in northern Syria until it makes sure the imminent threats against its national security have been neutralized.



    FOOTBALL Romania’s football vice-champion Steaua Bucharest failed to qualify for the Champions League’ groups, after losing the play-off tiebreak, away from home, 0-1, to the powerful English squad Manchester City. In Bucharest, Steaua was defeated 0-5. However, the vice-champion will play in the Europa League groups, to which champion Astra Giurgiu is trying to qualify today. The holder of the title will play the return match in England, against West Ham United, after a 1-1 match on home turf.




  • The 2015 Gaudeamus Book Fair closes its doors

    The 2015 Gaudeamus Book Fair closes its doors

    One of the most important events of its kind in Romania and abroad, the 22nd edition of the Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organized by Radio Romania, came to an end on Sunday in Bucharest. Over 125,000 visitors, by 8 thousand more than the previous year, over 3.2 million euros in proceeds, over 300 publishers and more than 700 events made Gaudeamus “the most read book fair at the most listened to radio”, the motto of the 2015 edition.



    Head of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation Ovidiu Miculescu:


    “Radio Romania strongly supports Romanian literature, poetry and history books, novels and books in general, and I would take this opportunity to recall that the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation is the only public radio in Europe to organize and sponsor such a far-reaching cultural event”.



    The guest of honor at the 2015 Gaudeamus book fair was the GADIF, the Group of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Institutions in Romania. On the last day of the fair, the organizers awarded prizes to publishers based on a public vote. This year as well Humanitas was voted the best publishing house, followed by Rao and Nemira publishers. The public voted Igor Bergler’s The Lost Bible as the most coveted book. Media awards were given to the Adevarul daily, to PRO TV television station, to GOLD FM radio and to the Agerpress news agency.



    The “Antoaneta Ralian” awards for best translations were given to Ruxandra Cesereanu and George Volceanov. In turn, Cartier Publishers awarded Radio Romania a prize of excellence for unsparingly “keeping the book market at high standards”. The Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest was also granted the Education Award. “The Books Return Home”, the book-donation project run by Radio Romania every year, was also a success.



    The 5,000 books donated by visitors and exhibitors will go to public libraries in Rupea, Brasov County and Scoreiu, Sibiu County. Since the project was launched back in 2010, over 140,000 books were donated at Gaudeamus, reaching over 340 libraries in areas to which Radio Romania is broadcasting.



    (Translated by: Vlad Palcu)

  • November 21, 2015

    November 21, 2015

    Another person injured in the fatal fire of October 30th at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest died on Saturday in a hospital in the Romanian capital city, raising the death toll to 59. According to the Health Ministry, 40 patients were still hospitalised, ten of whom are in a critical condition. Around 30 others are receiving care in foreign clinics. A tribute was paid to the victims of the fire, on Friday night, when hundreds of people gathered for a concert in University Square in Bucharest.



    The new Government of Romania, headed by the independent Dacian Cioloş convened on Saturday in an informal meeting. The talks focused on next year’s public budgets, the sector priorities for the coming months, the improvement of the institutions that manage the European fund absorption and on outlining the principles for an administrative reform. According to the PM, such informal meetings will be held on a regular basis, at the weekend, and will focus on the priorities in the governing programme. The technocratic cabinet headed by Dacian Ciolos was sworn in early this week.



    The Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organised by Radio Romania, carries on today with tens of book launches and cultural events. The fair will end on Sunday. This year’s edition is held under the motto “The Most Read Book Fair from the Most Listened to Radio.” Gaudeamus brings together over 300 publishers and 700 events. The guest of honour in this year’s fair is the Group of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Institutions in Romania.



    The Brussels metro was shut on Saturday after the Belgian authorities raised the terrorist alert status to the highest level, warning people to avoid crowds because of a “serious and imminent” threat, news agencies report. One week after the Paris attacks, perpetrated by ISIS members, and with one of the suspects, based in Brussels, still at large, the city was placed on the top level, 4, of the government’s threat scale. The decision was taken hours after a suspect arrested in Belgium was placed under terrorism charges in relation to the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris on November 13th.



    The UN Security Council Friday unanimously approved a resolution introduced by France, which calls on all nations to strengthen and coordinate actions to prevent further terror attacks from the IS group and other terrorist organisations. The resolution describes the IS jihadist group as an unprecedented global threat to the international security and peace. The document authorises UN member states to use any means to dismantle the shelters the terrorists have established in a sizeable part of Iraq and Syria. The Resolution also calls on the international community to block the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria and to crack down on terrorist financing, the Radio Romania correspondent in Washington reports.



    The Romanian Florin Mergea and Indian Rohan Bopanna Saturday qualified in the finals of the London ATP World Tour, after defeating Ivan Dodig / Marcelo Melo (Croatia/Brazil), 6-4 / 6-2. In the other doubles semi-final, another Romanian, Horia Tecau, and his partner, Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands), are facing the No 1 seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan. It is for the first time that Romania has two players in the ATP World Tour Finals, which has 7 million US dollars in prize money and brings together the best-ranking 8 players of the season and the top 8 men’s doubles teams.


    (Translation by: Ana Maria Popescu)

  • Books for every pocket

    Books for every pocket

    After the fall of the communist dictatorship in Romania in 1989, people became avid for literature that had been censored that far, and this resulted in a multiplication of book fairs and events all over the country. The biggest are Bookfest, held in June, and Gaudeamus, held in November. The latter, which was created by Radio Romania, also travels to other cities and towns all over the country all year round.



    At Gaudeamus, book lovers can purchase the latest releases, attend book launches and press conferences, meet the writers and get books at great prices. The Romanian market, though rich in publications, does not have great book sales, with many Romanians finding the prices too steep at 5 to 16 euros for a book, while the average wage is around 380 euros.



    In order to help people buy their favourite titles for better prices, for the last ten years, Bucharest has been hosting Kilipirim, a discount book fair. We asked Oana Boca-Stanescu, a PR officer for the Kilipirim Fair, how the fair came about:



    “We have other book fairs as well that have discounts, like Bookfest and Gaudeamus, but Kilipirim deals more in older titles, which people get to buy at a discount you won’t see at other book fairs. In any given year, about 24,000 titles are published in Romania, but any given reader isn’t interested in more than 100. Even so, a person cannot afford all of them. Kilipirim was set up just for that: you go to the fair and find that book that you would have liked to buy half a year or a couple of years before. You had no money then, but now you can get it for a pittance.”



    Apart from providing affordable books for people, book fairs also help publishers, addressing one of their biggest problems: distribution:



    “Generally, we need book fairs for a fairly sad reason. There are few distribution chains in this country, and they cannot cope with the immense domestic output. The number of titles being published is far greater than the number of readers. Which means that a lot of book shop chains have shut down and others have simply vanished. If we go to a smaller town, you can see that there aren’t that many book shop around, or, where they still exist, they have been turned into stationery shops, with a book here and there.”



    Even though this year Kilipirim was held in a different place than usual, regular visitors found their way there, like this reader who spoke to us:



    “I’ve been coming to Kilipirim for years now. It is a way to enrich my book collection, and at the same time I can catch up with the latest titles on the market. This fair is a great idea because books, even though their prices have dropped, are still inaccessible for a certain category of people. At the same time, if you have several publishers gathered in one place, variety improves, and the opportunity to find better titles is greater.”



    One other reader was also attracted by the good prices and good variety:



    “For years now I’ve been following Kilipirim, Gaudeamus, and the summer book fair. These are welcome, especially in times like this. The discounts are welcome, no matter how small. There are now on-line bookstores, and before coming here I look titles up, see what I’ve missed. There are also the thematic fairs, where you have all the books in a given category together in one place. In a bookstore you have to look for the section that interests you, here everything is in one place.”



    As for prices, she admitted they are still rather high, especially for certain people. That is why she sometimes buys books she already owns, but not for herself:



    “I give them as gifts. It’s something I enjoy, helping a friend who cannot afford to buy books. In my circle of friends, we tell each other what’s new and look things up on the Internet. I have older retired friends who don’t have Internet, and I keep them up to date with the what’s out here.”



    On the other side of the counter, publishers have their own justifications for the high prices. Here is Oana Boca-Stanescu:


    “I worked for nine years in a publishing house, and I know why books cost what they do in Romania. Issues are small, and we are chasing our own tail in a small circle, because people can’t afford them, or don’t know they exist, since so much gets printed. And issues are small because people don’t buy them. The books have the exact price they are supposed to have. Publishing houses are businesses, whether we like it or not, and when they publish a certain book, they have to think of a profit. The final price includes the cost of paper, translators’ and editors’ fees, the promotion… all these put together lead to prices we see today.”



    Held twice a year, in spring and autumn, the discount book fair is good for both readers and publishers, who can thus sell more books and gain more customers.