Radio România Internațional

Tag: Reading

  • Romanians and their reading habits

    Romanians and their reading habits

    “The only thing you need to know is to be able to find your way to the library.” The quotation is attributed to Albert Einstein. It was a real encouragement for people to read. Yet people have stopped reading just as much, ever since high-tech has become so very accessible. Scrolling up on your cell phone screen, continuously, for hours on end, sometimes, steals people the time which is precious for themselves…and that time never returns.

     

    The cell phone empties our lives of what is the most precious thing for us : time, quality time, a time we spend with our nearest and dearest, a time we should use to learn, to develop as human beings endowed with superior intelligence.

     

    There once was a time when the books, banned by then the communist regime, succeeded to sidestep the system and reach the people, who were reading them avidly. At present, when we have all sorts of book at our fingertips and access to the printed books has never been easier, we opt for being glued to the screens of our cell phones instead of reading. Perhaps this is one of the paradoxes the modern man has to face: if something is like a forbidden fruit for someone, they will try their best to go and get it; give them free access to that particular something and people will lose interest in it.

     

     

    In a world where the habit of reading is on the wane, the Romanians are among those who read rather less. In 2023, the book sales turnover in Romania exceeded 6 million Euro, yet this apparently impressive figure is by far outweighed by Germany, where the book sales turnover in 2023 stood at 9 billion euros. Besides, if you buy a book, that does not necessarily mean you are going to read it…However, that shows you have a smidgen of interest in reading.

     

    In Romania, the people who read, read a lot and constantly, while those who do not read…do not read anything at all. There people who can live quite all right without reading a single line!

     

    Alina Ilioi Mureșan is the PR of Bookzone, the publishers who can brag about being able to arouse the interest of many Romanians with an appetite for reading. She tells us that, nonetheless, the Romanians with an appetite for reading buy a lot of books.

     

    “The Romanian book market is continuously growing, wheel the genres read by the Romanians are ever more diverse. Of course, I am happy when I see Romanians who orders books, who read printed matter and who are thrilled with the prospects of having their own bookcase. I believe last year was a very good one in every respect, in terms of sales but also as regards an editorial plan. Romanians read a lot about personal development and books where they can find out how they can improve their lives in any respect. They are interested in the health of the brain, in healthy diets, in emotional of psychological balance. Also, the geopolitical books are extremely sought-after, considering the context and the times we’re living. The least present, as far as we’re concerned, on their purchase lists were the fantasy books, although, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow has nonetheless enjoyed a tremendous success. However, by and large, the Romanians are not that keen on reading fiction any longer. Not OUR readers, at least. »

     

    However, it appears that the preference towards certain genres differs, from one generation to the next. The Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) prefers the Classic literature, the Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) chose thrillers, the X Generation (those born between 1960 and 1980) prefers contemporary classics, biographies, but also science fiction (it is, actually, the generation that reads the most, and whose reading is the most diversified) the Y Generation or the Millenials (1981 – 1996) prefers contemporary literature, while the Z Generation (1997 – 2012) prefers the fantasy genre, personal development, entrepreneurship.

     

    As regards the interest for reading, Alina Ilioi Mureșan believes it is growing, considering the book sales:

     

    “The book market this year is continuously growing. Of course, that is, however, hard to predict. The experience that I’ve had tells me many times we’re highly likely to be taken by surprise, according to certain circumstances. ”

     

    If we have a closer look at the figures, it appears that, notwithstanding, the Romanians are not among those who are the last to open a book. So we’re not completely lagging behind when it comes to reading?

     

    Alina Ilioi Muresan gives us a couple of reasons why we should be optimistic:

     

    ” I do not believe that. I find it impossible to believe, as every day I run into the number of books ordered by Romanians and I do not think they read the least in Europe. Certainly, the Romanians order the books to read them, and not to put them away so that a layer of dust sets on them. Is it, nonetheless, a financial investment, an effort they make. Yes, the Romanians read, and they read a lot. “

  • An online gathering of women debating books

    An online gathering of women debating books

    It all began in Iasi, north-eastern Romania, in 2020. It brought
    together women from all walks of life, who gathered around books. And, since they
    got together in a Spanish restaurant, they baptized their own gathering there
    in Spanish, using a play-upon-words, Mujeres livres, with the play-upon-words using
    libro and livro in Spanish and where mujeres stands for women, also in Spanish.
    Free, book-loving women, in English. It is the name of a reading club for women.
    Cezarina Caloian is an artist and an associate professor with the Graphic Arts
    Section of the Iasi-based Fine Arts Faculty. She told us who exactly came up
    with the idea for the reading club.


    Cezarina Caloian:

    The two founders, Arina Cosma and Florina Virna of Iasi
    came up with the idea. The club made its debut in the winter of 2020. We had a
    couple of physical meetings, then during the lockdown and for the first months of
    the pandemic we had to cancel our meetings, then we went online, and we have ever
    since stayed like that, we meet once in three weeks, and all women who would
    like to do that can join in, since there also is an online community Florina
    Varna has managed to organize very well. There’s 10 of us, or thereabouts, members
    who have been participating constantly ever since the project took off, then
    there are also people who join in once, maybe twice, or people who join in and remain
    in the project.


    Here is what another participant, Lavinia Popescu, told us about the
    project of the reading club.

    Lavinia Popescu:


    It is a reading club proper, we get together to discuss
    books as a book doesn’t end once you’ve finished reading all its pages, it has
    a life of its own through the discussions it stirs and that is how you feel you
    honor its author for all that they offered, you want to discuss what you felt, with
    the others. It could be the pleasure of the text, the tenderness of the story
    or the self-discovery experience you had. When you read a book, you feel you
    are not alone. You feel you also want to share with the others what you felt,
    and, especially, you want to find out from the others what they felt. That is exactly
    the reason why this reading club was necessary. It is just as natural for us to
    feel inclined to be part of a community capable of providing a secure space, a
    space where you can express yourself and, especially, a space you can be part
    of. That is exactly why we have this group of women, which is a support group
    and, every time we meet, we really get our kicks out of listening to each other.


    Lavinia Popescu recalled the first meetings of the club, and how the
    meetings progressed.


    For the first meeting we had, I think we were about
    20 people who were happy to be together, it was a surprise for every one of us,
    and then the pandemic broke out. During the pandemic, the reading club kept us
    company, it provided survival resources for all of us. Through reading, we discovered
    how humankind survived and, for us, that only buttressed a strong pillar of the
    confidence whereby that was something we were going to get it over with,
    completely. Together, we have read the stories of deportation and survival in
    the Siberian Gulag, through the book titled Zuleikha, open your eyes (a
    novel authored by Russian writer Guzel Yakhina). We saw how people lived with
    the bombs swooshing over their heads, through the books of Khaled Hosseini (and
    Afghan-American writer, born in 1965). We learned about acceptance from the Winters
    of the Soul    , by Katherine May, The 40 Rules of Love gave us comfort
    through the Sufi wisdom ( The 40 Rules of Love, a book authored by Elif Shafak). When I look at the
    shelf with the books we read at the club, I can only be grateful for the
    journey I took together with the community we have created and I want us to be
    able to enlarge the community, so that as many women as possible can draw their
    inspiration from there, for their daily lives.


    Cezarina Caloian:


    We read all sorts of books, from Elif Shafak,
    Hosseini Khaled, Maria Duena, Zafon (n.r. Carlos Ruiz Zafón). We read Vargas
    Llosa as well as Romanian authors, Laura Ionescu, with her book I Can’t Find
    You Anywhere,     actually we had her as a guest in one of our online meetings. And the titles we chose are somehow from
    various cultural spaces, from various types of literature. At the end of a meeting,
    we decide upon the book for our following meeting. Every participant reads the
    book, makes notes, highlights certain interesting aspects and for the online
    discussion, moderated by one of the founders of the club, Gearina Cosma, the discussion actually revolves around various
    interesting aspects, characters, episodes in the book, we share our own
    opinion, polemic discussions are also generated. What’s also interesting is the
    fact that joining the club are women from various walks of life, women with
    different backgrounds. We’re physicians, psychiatrists, therapists, psychologists,
    we’re people activating in healthcare, artists, IT specialists, students, and
    then everyone of us comes up with an original interpretation of the text, for
    our discussion. And for me, that’s exactly where the beauty of our meeting lies.


    Lavinia Popescu told us the choice of the books was made democratically,
    through voting, and that one of the greatest joys was for every participant to
    share the impressions they got, in connection with this or that book.


    It’s not just the sheer pleasure of
    reading, it is also a means of self-knowledge through reading. And then we feel
    happy to have the opinion of someone who is a philologist, for instance, the
    opinion of a psychologist, what the opinion was of somebody else, no matter what
    their background was. We collect ideas, we jot them down, or we don’t, that
    helps each and every one of us. In general, we’re a nucleus made of seven
    people who gather every time, but there are also other people joining in, for each
    and every online meeting. We’re open to anyone who wants to participate in our meetings.
    The fact that we have them online
    and not only physically, that is also a good point. Oftentimes we intend to meet
    physically, but the fact that we’re going online helps other people join us, people
    from other cities.


    Therefore, if you feel the need to meet women
    who are passionate about books, you can join in for the Mujeres Livres online
    meetings by posting a message on the club’s Facebook page.

    (EN)







  • European Book Day in Cluj

    European Book Day in Cluj

    In late April this year in the city of Cluj Napoca, north-western Romania, right in the city center at the Casino – the Center for Urban Culture an event will be taking place, which is supposed to bring together children, young people from disadvantaged categories, publishers from Romania and writers.


    The event is called European Book Day and we are going to find out more on it from Bianca Mereuță, director of the Signatura publishing house and organizer of this event in Romania:


    Bianca Mereuta: With European Book Day we intend to bring the young people closer to books in a manner as creative as possible, ways that young people may find interesting, pleasant and even funny so that they may see books as an alternative to multiple stimuli they face in everyday life and which are so exciting. European Book Day began in Austria, it was founded by our Austrian partners. It is a project co-funded by Erasmus+ in which five countries are staging events through which young people from vulnerable environments with limited access to cultural events and books may get into contact with authors, the world of books and education and with other young people. They may thus spend some good time together and share the joy of reading. The project is underway in four European countries and the fifth is the communicational partner of the entire concept. Like I said Austria is the initiator of the project and the event will be held in Romania on April 27th. It will be followed by the events in Sweden in May and it will come to an end in Germany in November. European Book Day is targeting the young people.


    European Book Day is at the beginning, at its first edition and attendance is free. But what is the event like? And what exactly is going to happen during this event? Here is again Bianca Mereuță:


    Bianca Mereuta: European Book Day wants to bring youngsters close to books, whet their appetite for reading. So, youngsters from disadvantaged categories and young people who have access to education and books from well-off families will meet and spend some good time together. Prior to the main event, with young people from disadvantaged categories we held a series of workshops of creative writing and art during which they managed to create literary works, which are going to be on display during the European Book Day. In this way we tried to show them that reading, books and creativity are available to everyone. Everybody can create and we all have the resources to create but in order to achieve this goal we must have a foundation of culture and the awareness of the importance of education. On April 27th starting 11:30, young people and adults alike, accompanied by children of course, are expected to join us at the Casino – the Urban Culture Center and enjoy a series of book-inspired events and we also hope that we are going to spend together a couple of good hours. Young people need to think outside the box and see beyond the easy alternatives they have to quickly satisfy their needs. They need to be aware of this long-term promise, that of education, which is easily done step by step but which is actually constructive for the personality of a human being.


    At the end of our discussion Bianca Mereuță, organizer of European Book Day shared the future expectations in relation to this project.


    Bianca Mereuta: We’d like to turn European Book Day into a multiannual event which reaches out to as many young people around Romania as possible. They need that. So, European Book Day will hopefully grow and have an impact in the hearts and minds of those coming to Cluj these days and linger in their memory. We hope they’ll understand the habit of daily reading.


    We should also note that starting this year Romania has a National Reading Day, which is marked on February 15th as according to statistics the daily average time a Romanian spends reading is five minutes and most people read about a book a year. And in a country where 10% of its citizens are buying a book a year, the school plays an essential role in cultivating an apparently obsolete activity, reading as a way aimed at saving us from a superficial environment, where we are making decisions without thinking. Reading builds deep and solid connections inside the mind of the reader, be they children or adults, the Ministry of Education said, and on that day changed the school timetable so that students were able to enjoy one hour of reading in classes. Teachers recommended children to bring to school one of the books they liked and read from it in classrooms. The objective of this action was to promote daily reading as a habit.


    (bill)


  • Reading as national emergency

    Reading as national emergency

    You may have heard of those statistics saying that Romanians rank last in Europe with regard to reading. No matter how unpleasant, this is reality. Some say it’s just manipulation, an anti-marketing strategy, aimed at having us look bad in Europe, but a study carried out by the World Bank this year, in March, shows that one Romanian reads, on average, less than five minutes per day, and reading a whole book in one year is a rare event. 35% of the Romanians say that have never read a book, although there are numberless studies showing that reading helps an individual’s harmonious development, helps reduce stress and it also contributes to economic and social development. The World Bank has shown that higher literacy rates are associated with a healthier population, lower crime rates and bigger economic growth rates.

    It looks like Romanians’ relationship with books started to deteriorate 10 years after the anti-Communist Revolution of December 1989 and the new generations’ interest in reading has dropped dramatically. Who is to blame and what can be done, given that it has been scientifically demonstrated that reading helps develop a young person’s cognitive capacities?

    We asked journalist Marina Constantinoiu, an expert in the field, who also teaches at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, how can young people’s lack of interest in reading be explained?

    Unfortunately, the relationship between students and reading in general, with or without connection to the Internet age, is quite bad, and this is not something new, it’s been going on for 25 years now, because, perhaps, the first years after the 1989 revolution were a bit more generous with regard to reading. The Internet can be blamed, but on the other hand, it is not the only reason and not even the most serious. I think that the main problem is in the family, because the family is the one that does not encourage the child to read or tolerates the child’s inability to read. I don’t know if we are all born with an interest in reading, I know that for my generation, this is something that has been cultivated in the family. I think now it’s a matter of national emergency, because we are in a very bad situation with regard to reading. And this can be seen in the severe poverty of the vocabulary people nowadays use to communicate.

    Reading, as a daily habit, builds and strengthens neuronal connections at any age, not only in children and young adults. Values such as education, respect for books or teachers have started to disappear. Unless we want to seriously damage our national identity, we should declare this a national emergency, Marina Constantinoiu believes:

    I used to be a student myself and I now I’m teaching and I usually like to talk to my students outside class. I try to find out what their passions are, if they read and how much. Lately, however, unfortunately, I didn’t have to ask, because it has become obvious. I can guess how much their read from the way in which they write their projects and the way in which they look at a longer text, because working on it translates into a lot of boredom on their part. Many are terrified at the thought of having to read a long text, think about it, understand it and write something about it.

    It is vitally important for the family, no matter their own education, to cultivate in children the respect for and interest in reading. Without knowledge, without learning from books, is like starting a trip with an empty bag. And this is never good, Marina Constantinoiu says:

    Reading as a habit is usually something for those age above 40, and I am in this category, I feel like a dinosaur, but it’s not normal to be like that. I think that it should start in the family and reading should be an obligation, imposed gently. Because reading is what forms one as a person. I say that to many children who frown when they hear about reading more in high-school, because these are the most rebellious years. No matter the field of work you choose, you cannot start the trip with no information, and the proper vocabulary that one can acquire only through reading. It doesn’t matter how we call them: words, information, ideas, metaphors, it doesn’t matter. What is important is to have them and use them in life.

    In conclusion, it’s important to encourage our children to read. To help them discover the joy of stopping for a while every day and just read. It’s definitely rewarding in the long run. (MI)

  • The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest

    The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest

    The National Contemporary Art Museum in Bucharest has
    never ceased to surprise us. After unconventional exhibition inaugurations,
    some of which were allegedly way too disputed and collections that have been
    renewed every six months or monster installations impressing visitors as soon
    as they step into the museum, as of late caught up indoors because of the pandemic,
    the National Contemporary Art Museum has come up with projects meant to get
    children closer to the museum. That’s how a couple of projects have emerged as
    of late. Among them, Contemporary Art from Plankton to Intergalactic Flight,
    actually made of several workshops meant to help art lovers understand the
    exhibition of the National Contemporary Art Museum Collection. Then there’s
    also Watching History. 1947-2007, as well as projects focusing on where
    contemporary art hails from and what its sources are, in general. A Night at
    the Museum, workshops tailored to suit the needs of the little ones, staged in
    a bid to help them understand, in a friendly formula, the National Contemporary
    Art Museum Collection themed Watching
    History. 1947-2007. Then there’s also Art through Correspondence, a project
    bringing together the children and the elderly, facilitating the correspondence
    between generations.




    There is another project we’re going to be dealing
    with in detail, themed A weekend at the National Museum of Contemporary Art online:
    reading evenings for the little ones. On a weekly basis, the project seeks to
    offer for reading a title from the library of the museum as a means of arousing
    the little ones’ interest in reading, art, as well as in dialogue.




    Astrid Bogdan is a librarian with the National
    Contemporary Art Museum. She told us the story behind the project.






    Late into the previous year, jointly with my
    colleagues, we laid the foundation stone of what we’ve themed Reading evenings
    at the National Museum of Contemporary Art. And what we do, actually, is
    gather, the little ones and the elderly, on Fridays, at 7 pm, to read stories
    from our library, the library of the museum. Taking one step after the next, we
    have tried to corroborate those reading sessions, focusing on the reading
    proper, with little graphic interventions made by book illustrators, as well as
    with musical interventions, so that the textual intervention may have sound and
    color attached to them, why not? We can
    thus have the opportunity to discover some of the titles even while their
    authors are doing the reading. There is no age limit for that, since our
    workshops are inclusive. Also, we want to take the well- established custom
    further, that of the tales told by the fireside, since the program is free of
    charge. And the advantage of working online on a permanent basis is having
    participants at local but also at international level.




    Such a project is a support for book authors, Romanian
    as well as foreign.




    Astrid Bogdan:




    We also dedicate some of the reading evenings to the
    books tackling the topic of the recovery of children diagnosed with autism or
    with other growth problems, children with certain special disabilities. The
    start we had for our project was kind of bumpy, we began in December, back then
    the project was titled Rolling astray on board a tramway and we continued
    with the title ‘Introtale’ which gathered a great many readers around it. All
    this time we have tried to bring the authors closer, so much so that on Fridays
    we have one author reading from their own work.




    We asked Astrid Bogdan if the reading sessions brought
    together many participants.


    Astrid Bogdan:




    There are evenings, and there are evenings. There were
    evenings when we’ve got 30 people taking part, there were evenings with many
    more participants, we even had something to the tune of 70. We have been trying
    to stage the event one week after the next, opening up the evenings to the
    little ones, so we opted for a maximum number of 25 participants, and whenever
    we had more people coming in, we staged another reading evening separately, on
    a different day.




    Having taken part in the sessions, people kept sending
    encouraging messages, which, alongside the growing number of prospective
    participants, gave an impetus to the organizers so that they could take take the project further and
    keep searching for different and new, original titles. The library is open
    Monday to Friday, from 13.30 to 17.30 pm, and on the first Monday of every
    month, also from 13.30 to 17.30 pm. Astrid Bogdan said that, as soon as the National
    Contemporary Art Museum library was discovered, quite a few people turned up,
    who were willing to explore it.




    Astrid Bogdan:




    And I had no choice other than doing the reading for
    them in the library and that’s what prompted me to keep my hopes alive that at
    one point we could stage those reading sessions on the museum’s rooftop, when
    that is officially allowed. Yet we will stay online as well, since there are a
    great many users who opt for being with us from their hometown, and by that I
    ‘m not speaking about cities from across Romania, but also about cities from
    abroad. We believe that any youngster, through reading and art, can have a
    freedom of choice, nay, they can form certain genuine customs and habits, as we
    pledge for stories that are not prescribed.

    And that is an invitation worth taking in the
    evenings.





  • Athlete of the Week on RRI – Footballer George Puscas

    Athlete of the Week on RRI – Footballer George Puscas

    Romanian footballer George Puscas
    had a stellar performance in the match pitting his team Reading against Wigan
    in the second English league. Puscas scored a hattrick in the game his club won
    3-1. Joe Garner scored the first goal for the home side on minute 34. Puscas
    made it 1-all on minute 79, scoring from penalty kick. A minute later he scored
    again, and on minute 84 he scored to make it 3-1 for Reading. For his remarkable
    performance, we have designated George Puscas Athlete of the Week on RRI.
    George Puscas this Monday was also designated Footballer of the Year 2019 at
    the Romanian Football Gala.


    George Puscas was born on April 8,
    1996 in Marghita, Bihor County, northwestern Romania, close to the Hungarian
    Border. He started to play football for a local club, Liberty Oradea. It was
    there that he was scouted by Internazionale Milano, who bought Puscas for 600
    thousand euros. Puscas completed a training with the club’s under-18 team, and
    then the club board moved him to the A team, although he spent a lot of time as
    a substitute. He was on loan to Bari for a season, and was close to securing
    promotion to Serie A. Inter then loaned Puscas to Benevento, a team which this
    time secured promotion to the first Italian league. He then played for Novara
    in Serie B. Inter then transferred Puscas to Palermo in Serie B, for a
    3-million-euro fee. After the team was relegated to the fourth-tier league,
    Inter bought back Puscas and transferred him to Reading in Premier League for
    an overall 10-million-euro fee, marking the most expensive transfer ever made
    by the English club. And Puscas was worth every penny. This season he scored 6
    goals.


    George Puscas has 14 caps for the
    Romanian national team, scoring 6 goals. He made his debut in May 2018, in a
    friendly against Chile. On November 17, 2018 he scored his first goal for
    Romania in Ploiesti, in the 3-nil win against Lithuania in Nations League.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • Athlete of the Week on RRI – Footballer George Puscas

    Athlete of the Week on RRI – Footballer George Puscas

    Romanian footballer George Puscas
    had a stellar performance in the match pitting his team Reading against Wigan
    in the second English league. Puscas scored a hattrick in the game his club won
    3-1. Joe Garner scored the first goal for the home side on minute 34. Puscas
    made it 1-all on minute 79, scoring from penalty kick. A minute later he scored
    again, and on minute 84 he scored to make it 3-1 for Reading. For his remarkable
    performance, we have designated George Puscas Athlete of the Week on RRI.
    George Puscas this Monday was also designated Footballer of the Year 2019 at
    the Romanian Football Gala.


    George Puscas was born on April 8,
    1996 in Marghita, Bihor County, northwestern Romania, close to the Hungarian
    Border. He started to play football for a local club, Liberty Oradea. It was
    there that he was scouted by Internazionale Milano, who bought Puscas for 600
    thousand euros. Puscas completed a training with the club’s under-18 team, and
    then the club board moved him to the A team, although he spent a lot of time as
    a substitute. He was on loan to Bari for a season, and was close to securing
    promotion to Serie A. Inter then loaned Puscas to Benevento, a team which this
    time secured promotion to the first Italian league. He then played for Novara
    in Serie B. Inter then transferred Puscas to Palermo in Serie B, for a
    3-million-euro fee. After the team was relegated to the fourth-tier league,
    Inter bought back Puscas and transferred him to Reading in Premier League for
    an overall 10-million-euro fee, marking the most expensive transfer ever made
    by the English club. And Puscas was worth every penny. This season he scored 6
    goals.


    George Puscas has 14 caps for the
    Romanian national team, scoring 6 goals. He made his debut in May 2018, in a
    friendly against Chile. On November 17, 2018 he scored his first goal for
    Romania in Ploiesti, in the 3-nil win against Lithuania in Nations League.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • The Book of Triumph campaign

    The Book of Triumph campaign

    World Read Aloud Day on 1st February, followed by “Book at the Metro and, most recently, “Book of Triumph, are some of the events held in Romania this year to encourage reading. Literature lovers from across the globe celebrated World Book and Copyright Day on the 23rd of April, with Barcelona marking the event with the San Jordi Festival which combines the Christian feast day of St George with the modern celebration of books.



    On the same day, Bucharest saw the launch of the “Book of Triumph campaign, the result of the collaboration between the Bucharest City and Litera publishers. On this day, the Arch of Triumph, a symbol of the Romanian nation state, opened its doors for books and readers. Endowed with reading areas and a multimedia cultural information centre, the monument provides visitors with an interactive experience. Oana Zaharia, the director of Bucharests department for monuments and tourist heritage, tells us more about this campaign:



    Oana Zaharia: “The Book of Triumph is an idea we have developed together with Litera publishing house, our partners for this event. They have run the Night of Open Books for the last six years on 23rd April, on World Book Day. This year, which is Book Year in Romania, we wanted to do something special and came up with the idea to transform the Arch of Triumph into a library and open the site to readers, young and old, who also have the chance to visit the Arch of Triumph.



    The Arch of Triumph has been on Bucharests tourist map for a long time, but many dont know it can also be visited, says Oana Zaharia:



    Oana Zaharia: “Many dont know it is open to visitors, that you can actually go inside the Arch of Triumph. Everyone is extremely impressed when they go up the arch, with the view they get from up there as well as its interior, which is hard to imagine by just looking from the outside. You go up the Arch of Triumph through one leg of the arch, go out on the roof top and then go down through the other leg of the arch. At the moment, it is arranged into spaces for reading and areas where little children can draw. The sets and props all focus on books and the idea of reading. Its quite an unusual event and weve had only positive reviews. Its what we wanted, of course, but we never expected the event to be so successful.



    The opening events on the 23rd and 24th of April included video mapping shows that transformed the Arch of Triumph into a virtual library. The 3D animations projected onto its facade centred on themes such as history, the arts and books, providing spectators with a magical universe. Famous works, rare books and new books came together to create an interactive allegory of colours, lights and sounds. Oana Zaharia tells us more about the opening event, the Night of the Open Books:



    Oana Zaharia: “On the opening night on the 23rd of April, 5,000 people visited the Arch of Triumph between 7 pm and 11 pm. It was extremely busy. Everyone wanted to make the most of their visit, to spend some time enjoying the moment and to look around, while others were waiting outside in a queue. It was a bit difficult to ensure a steady flow, but overall it was a successful event.



    The Arch of Triumph in Bucharest will remain open until mid-June and those interested in visiting it are invited to bring a book from their personal collection. The books collected this way are going to be donated to disadvantaged communities. According to Oana Zaharia, there are more surprises in store for those willing to participate.



    Oana Zaharia: “This year we are running more campaigns aimed at whetting peoples appetite for culture, and the Arch of Triumph will probably play venue for more such events. Book launches and other small events have been planned until June 15th and well hopefully integrate them in this project which turns the Arch of Triumph into a library. After these events, the building will host various exhibitions. All these campaigns are aimed at encouraging mainly children and young people to read and accumulate information for the future development of their personalities.



    Oana Zaharia also had some advice to give to our listeners:



    Oana Zaharia: “To read and be widely-read. At the same time they should keep an eye on us because these campaigns are designed for them and we want as many locals and tourists as possible involved in these projects.



    A complex experience, through which those interested are encouraged to discover the marvelous universe of books against the historic background of the Arch of Triumph in Bucharest.



    (translated by: Cristina Mateescu, Daniel Bilt)

  • Society Today: Digitalization and/or Reading

    Society Today: Digitalization and/or Reading

    Along with the
    IT revolution and the diversification of digital devices, benefits and
    advantages have been accompanied by disadvantages too. According to parents and
    educators, they are mostly affecting children, who, from a very tender age,
    start using the remote control, the smart phone or tablet, to the detriment of
    traditional playing and, later in school, to reading.

    Diana Mocanu is the
    director of the Gama publishing house in Iasi, eastern Romania, specializing in
    educational projects. She told us about the main effects of digitalization on
    the development of children’s brains:


    There
    are European statistics showing clearly that children under the age of 5 spend,
    on average, three hours in front of a screen, which is a lot. What small
    children need is the opportunity to develop their vocabulary and fine
    motricity. Also, they need to develop synapses through interaction with real,
    not virtual objects. That is why there should be rules, keeping children under
    3 away from screens. The digital world will catch up with them anyway, as they
    grow up, and teenagers actually need to keep up with the latest in terms of
    digital skills, because this is the future.
    However, in order for children to
    start loving books too, it’s important for them to start actually reading when
    they should, and this is where we, the parents, should step in. It’s important
    to be there for our children, to motivate them to read, to given them books
    that help them develop a taste for reading.


    With the express
    aim of helping children develop a love for books, Gama has launched a campaign
    titled The Day When We Have Time, devoted to both children and parents, as
    Diana Mocanu told us:


    TRACK VF: The
    campaign started with debates. One of them was held at the Gaudeamus Book Fair
    in Bucharest, and the other one in Iasi, our home city. We hosted well known
    figures from the world of books and parenting, but also from the virtual field,
    in order to illustrate both perspectives. We wanted to find viable solutions
    for parents, to help them.


    To this end,
    book collections specially designed to have parents and children read together
    are extremely useful. This can help children read more easily, without too much
    effort. Here is Diana Mocanu again:

    If we
    think of this in terms of gadget vs. book, we must not forget that a digital
    device is extremely attractive, fun, and easy to use. Reading, on the other
    hand, is a very complex activity, which entails an effort that takes years. If
    we look at the two, the gadget vs. the book, the gadget wins, if the child has
    problems reading.


    No such
    campaign, however, can be of any use unless they target both children and
    parents, says poet Robert Serban, one of the participants in the debates held under
    the ‘The Day When We Have Time’ campaign. He tried to address some of the
    worries voiced by parents during the debates with regard to the use of digital
    equipment.


    They
    forget to look in the mirror. They forget to turn off TV sets, they forget to
    put down phones and tablets when they get home. So, they actually ask their
    children to do things that they cannot do themselves. In fact, it is well known
    that children imitate what their parents do, because they are their role
    models. For years I’ve talked to parents asking me what to do, what strategies
    to adopt in order to make them read. My reaction has always been: What do you
    do when you get home? Well, I sit in my chair and turn on the TV. Then what
    do you expect from your son? Does he see you or your wife read? That would be
    the explanation. These campaigns are important, but, for them to be more than
    just a theory or a slogan, they should target not only children, but their
    parents too.


    Robert Serban is
    a father himself, so he understands the fascination of the internet and of
    computer games. On the other hand, he knows that digital technology can be a
    very good instrument for acquiring knowledge, if used properly. Here is Robert
    Serban once more:


    We do
    not use them as tools, we let them use us. They occupy all our time. They are
    fabulous and fascinating. I often wonder what I would have done if, as a child,
    I had something like that in the 1970s-1980s. I’m sure that I would have been
    mesmerized, just like my kids are today. I have an 8-year old boy and a 12-year
    old girl. I am fighting with these tools they have access to these days. I am
    trying to protect them, and especially to tell them that this is what they are,
    just tools. We use the phone to talk to each other, not to stare at the screen
    all day long. We watch TV from time to time, to watch a movie or the news, not
    to become addicted to it. What really shapes us is reading, be it on the
    screen, on a sheet of paper, in a book. This is important. There is scientific
    evidence showing that reading develops the nervous system, it develops the
    brain and helps us focus and imagine things.


    The campaign run
    by the Gama publishing house ended with a day when parents and children put
    their smart phones and tablets aside, turned off the TV, in order to be closer
    to their loved ones, in the company of a book, of a game or just to stroll in
    the park.

  • Block Party

    Block Party


    Books
    placed on a spectacular installation and advertised in the street, reading of
    contemporary poetry and guided tours of the neighborhood, food cooked by chef
    Liviu Lambrino for a common, open-air diner, dancing in the middle of the
    street with artist Paul Dunca and Jim Felix’s music as well as films screened
    on an open-air screen were some of the attractions of the first block party
    organized in October on a street in downtown Bucharest. Edmund Niculusca, the
    president of the Romanian Association for Culture, Education and Normality,
    ARCEN, is the initiator of the event:


    We are transforming the street into several layers of spaces. For almost
    12 hours, the I.L. Caragiale Street in Bucharest will witness lots of events
    such as part of the exhibition that represented Romania at the Venice
    International Architecture Biennial, Mnemonix, and ‘Around the block’, a
    project that gathers all childhood games in one book. Games, dance and dialogue
    are actually the key ingredients of a Block Party event.


    Against
    the backdrop of carpets laid out in the street, of armchairs in which you could
    cuddle up covered in a blanket, visitors could enjoy the experience of an extensive
    living room, among book shelves. A book installation invites people to read. The
    installation is made up of metallic sticks at the end of which you can find a
    plate on which a book is placed. When removing the book from the plate, you
    discover 5 lines written on the plate which explain the reason why you should
    read that book. Next Edmund Niculusca will tell us about the idea behind the
    project.


    Bucharest needs a historical, cultural
    centre, and the area around Icoanei street could be this very historical,
    cultural centre, because it is located in the center, it is a historical area
    and has cultural potential, because, once it enters a network, it has the
    potential to generate another type of life inside the city. It’s a different
    kind of old city.


    In this
    area, history has cultural potential, says Edmond Niculusca:


    At first, when we conceived the project,
    we wanted to name it ‘The downtown neighborhood’, which had to be a different city
    center, but eventually we named it ‘District 40’, while preserving the
    philosophy of creating a center with a different urban rhythm. All the partners
    of District 40 namely the French Institute, the Central School, Residence Scene
    9, Point, Carturesti and Cinetics will be present on the I.L. Caragiale street
    with their events. For the European Night of Museums all these institutions
    staged their events in their own spaces, but now all these cultural spaces will
    come together on one street, proving that cooperation is possible and that what
    seemed at first impossible eventually became possible.


    Poet
    Nora Iuga joined the project and she read out from her poems. Among the
    participants there were also people involved in town planning projects, such as
    Romeo Cuc, the curator of the MNEMONICS project, architect Serban Sturdza and
    Serban Radu, the founder of Carturesti book network. ‘Catalog 40’ was one of
    the projects debated in the street, which is a successful project meant to
    familiarize those interested with Bucharest’s protected areas. Alberto
    Grosescu, the vice-president of ARCEN, explained:


    Of all the ARCEN projects we have had so
    far, this one has been the most dynamic and has changed a lot. In 2015 we
    inventoried another 2 protected, constructed areas. It was a demo version. And
    this dynamics and permanent change of the urban landscape and of heritage
    elements, put in connection with the information we had when analyzing the two
    protected constructed areas, made me aware of the speed at which the city is
    changing, of how little knowledge people have about protected areas. We have
    tried to save all these areas at the level of image, inventory and information.
    In 2016 we planned to inventory the 98 protected constructed areas. We
    estimated a number of 14,500 buildings. It took us 8 solid months to draw up
    the methodology, and with the help of teachers of architecture from the Ion
    Mincu University, of experts from the Heritage Institute, from the Order of
    Romanian Architects in Bucharest, we managed to come up with a first version.
    In March 2017 we started the inventory. Among the first areas inventoried,
    there was the Icoanei area, and, at that time, we had no idea that a project
    like ‘District 40’ was to be born.


    We
    mingled with the visitors to find out their impression about the Block Party. We
    asked 43 year-old Dana, who was accompanied by her son, why she came to Block
    Party.


    I found out about it on the Internet and we
    wanted to see what it is all about. And we discovered people like us, we discovered
    books and a lot of peace and quiet, which is quite rare in Bucharest.


    Dana’s
    son, Radu, is 13, and he also shared with us why he came to the Block Party:


    I was curious to see what happens here,
    I find it a nice place for relaxation on a Sunday afternoon, to loosen up in an
    armchair and read. But I don’t think many of my colleagues would come to such
    events.


    Both
    Block Party evenings ended with people dancing in the street, warmed up by artist
    Paul Dunca. Some of the existential questions asked in the songs played at the
    party attracted our attention: ‘How long do you intend to live?’, ‘Age has
    changed in time, hasn’t it?’ In spite all of that, the time spent at the Block
    Party actually suspended … time!


    (Translated by L. Simion)

  • Reading in non-conventional spaces

    Reading in non-conventional spaces


    In a survey conducted in 2005, 25% of Romanians outside Bucharest and 6% of respondents from Bucharest said they hadnt bought any book in the previous 12 months. Also, 62% of respondents from Bucharest and 48% of respondents outside Bucharest said they had bought between one and five books during that period. These data were published two years ago by the Cultural Consumption Barometer.



    Another such study was conducted recently by the Curtea Veche Association, an NGO promoting reading for pleasure among Romanian children. The Associations executive manager Valentina Roman tells us more:



    “Only 8% of children in Bucharest read for pleasure in their spare time. Many said they dont have the time because they are busy with school and other extracurricular activities or because they just cant find books they can enjoy. Parents force them to read books theyre not interested in.”



    Carried out in December 2016 and with a sample size of 1,082 school children from Bucharest aged between 11 and 14, the survey also brought the issue of public libraries to the fore. We asked Valentina Roman if children today still go to the library:



    “Almost two thirds of our respondents said they didnt go to the school library because they cant find there a dedicated space where they can just sit and read. Another reason is that they dont find books there that are suitable for their age. Only a small percentage of children visit public libraries. Theyd rather exchange books between them. In fact, children mostly read books recommended by their friends. They prefer these to those recommended in school or by their parents.”



    Although little known and frequented, local libraries are not only the place where you can read and borrow books, but also an area for socialising and hosting community activities. This is precisely the aim of the campaigns initiated by the librarians of the Mihail Sadoveanu Metropolitan Library in Bucharest, which has branches in all of the citys 6 sectors. The most recent such campaign had the title “Travel with a Book” and was carried out jointly with Bucharests Public Transport Company.



    At the beginning of March, the librarians got on busses and trams and encouraged people to read. The general manager of the Metropolitan Library Anca Rapeanu tells us more about this campaign:



    “Many people who live in Bucharest spend quite a lot of time every day on public transport. Our idea is to encourage them to use this time to read a book. So we got on buses and trams and distributed postcards made by children taking part in the creative workshops held by the Bucharest Metropolitan Library. It was our way of telling people that not only do we have good books they can borrow, but we also run other types of programmes, educational, entertaining or to encourage socialising, which they can take part in free of charge.”



    In the six days of the campaign, 50 librarians, as well as 7 volunteers and 19 interns, got on buses, trolleybuses and trams all over Bucharest, on routes running close to local public libraries. They interacted with 11,000 people and distributed postcards and promotional material. Marilena Chirita, the head of the Bucharest Metropolitan Librarys Marketing and Communication Department:



    “We distributed promotional leaflets listing our librarys 34 different branches. The passengers wanted to know where the libraries are located and the services we offer. We also came across people who were already using our services. We had lots of questions from people who wished to know how they could access the library, whether its free of charge or whether one of our branches was located close to where they live or their work.”



    Another activity run by the Metropolitan Library is “Time for a Story”. First held once a month, it was such a success that it is now being held every week. Anca Rapeanu explains:



    “In the beginning, the activity was held in 16 local libraries. A volunteer reads a story to children aged between 3 and 6 accompanied by their parents. The idea behind the project is that while three-year old children cant read, they can be taught to love reading if they are read to and become used to books, even as objects. The parents see how their children react when stories are read to them, which we hope will encourage parents to read to their children every day when at home, at least 10 or 15 minutes before children go to sleep.”



    Theres also a chance that parents themselves will want to borrow a book they can read on public transport on their way to and from work every day.