BOOKAREST The Bucharest International Book Fair

"BOOKAREST" The Bucharest International Book Fair 9th edition Focus: "Back to Reading"
Venue:	ETAJ 3/4 Gallery and the hall on the 1st floor of the National Theatre building in Bucharest
Date:	May 23 - 27, 2001
Organizers:	the artexpo Foundation, the Publishers Association of Romania - AER, the Association of Professional Writers in Romania - ASPRO, the Bucharest Centre of Cultural Projects - ARCUB, with support from the Romanian Ministry of Culture.
Sponsors:	CG&GC, FX, TV5, Europa FM
Rental fee for a fully equipped booth:	the equivalent in lei of 55 $/ m² for Romanian publishers and of 100 $/m² for foreign exhibitors; the equivalent in lei of 80 $/m² for foreign book dealers. Extra services were available for extra fees.
Exhibitors:	262, including 171 from Romania and 91 from Britain, France, Germany, the USA, the Republic of Moldova, Italy and Spain, some of them directly participating in the Book Fair while others were represented by dealers.
Comments on the exhbitors:	In relation to the international participants, it is important to mention the large number of national booths held by the foreign cultural centers in Buchatrest and organized with support from the respective embassies. - For the first Spain's Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports exhibited, together with the Cervantes Institute of Bucharest, the latest titles put out by Spanish publishers, including fiction and various dictionaries, exhibition catalogues, cultural reviews, as well as Romanian traslations of works by Spanish authors. The events organized by the Spanish participating institutions included a presentation of the stand, attended by Spain's ambassador to Bucharest, the lecture entitled El largo camino de la escritura (The Long Road of Writing), delivered by Rosa Regás, and the roundtable "Romanian-Spanish Bibliographic Itineraries." The almost permanent crowds in front of the booths attested to the Romanian readers' interest in the Spanish-language cultural space; - The French publishers were represented by France Edition. Over an area of 49 m², 64 of the most important French publishing houses displayed titles from various fields, including encyclopaedias and Larousse dictionaries, art albums, books in the loisir category, which particularly attracted the visitors. The French participation in the Fair was arranged by the cultural service of the French Embassy in Bucharest and France Edition and comprized several events such as the presence of French writer Patrick Rambaud, winner of the 1997 Goncourt Prize, who attended the launching of his book The Battle, published by Est - Samuel Tastet Editeur. Violette Rey, a geographer, presented the Atlas of Romania, published by La Documentation Française. - The German Book Centre, as representative of the Frankfurt Book Fair in Romania, hosted two book exhibitions: "The Most Beautiful Books"(30 titles published in Germany in 2000, and H2O Von Tropfen und Meeren, including 200 books issued by 59 publishers in Germany and having in common the theme of water. - British books were a draw, owing both to the diversity of areas approached and to the wide-ranging offers, besides the fact that most importers and distributors of British books operated price cuts to stimulate sales. After the previous edition, where Britain was the guest of honour, at the 9th edition the British Council presented a project by literary themes, as part of which a prize for translation into Romanian was awarded, this time in poetry.
Events:	The focus of the Fair this year, selected by the Romanian Publishers Association (AER), was designed to warn against the endangering of written culture and to help put together efficient strategies to solve the problems publishers are facing. Falling in the same line were the three contest-projects AER coordinated during the Fair: "Back to Reading" was a contest for students and undergrads; the Miss Fair Book - voted by the visitors; and the 2001 AER Awards - a contest for publishers. Another outstanding event was the ASPRO Awards Gala, when the Professional Writers Association awarded prizes to writers whose works were published in 2000. The presence at the official inauguration of the Fair of HM King Mihai I and the royal family (head of the country until 1947) undoubtedly constituted a moment of great interest for both the visitors and the media. Exhibitions of books and book illustrations: - the exhibition of the ROSTOPASCA group, coordinated by Ruxandra Balaci. Exhibitors: Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor; - the graphics exhibition of the undergraduates from the Bucharest Art University, class of prof. Mircea Dumitrescu; - the exhibition "Sculpture and Literature - the ASPRO Trophies - Max", sculpture by Maxim Dumitras. The programme of the fair included, as usual, numerous book launches (over 200), literary readings, dedications and book signing, roundtables and debates, meetings with authors, two awards galas (the ASPRO awards for 2000 and the prizes of the Romanian Publishers Association), contests and press conferences.
Visitors, VIPs:	over 55,000 visitors, including HM King Mihai I and his family (who attended the inauguration), members of the Government, parliamentarians, diplomats, Romanian and foreign cultural personalities.
Entrance fee:	10,000 lei (approx. 0.40 USD). Free entrance for children and students, and 50% discount for undergraduates, retired persons and conscripts.