The organisers of the Iași International Festival of Literature and Translation – FILIT announce the list of the first guests who will participate in the 13th edition of the event, which will take place between the 22nd and the 26th of October 2025.
The public will be able to interact with famous guests, important figures of the contemporary cultural scene, both from Romania and abroad. Among them are Junot Díaz (Pulitzer Prize winner and recipient of numerous prestigious awards), Tracy Chevalier (author of the international publishing phenomenon Girl with a Pearl Earring, with novels translated into over 45 languages), Michel Bussi (one of the most widely read contemporary French authors, with tens of millions of books sold and translated into over 35 languages), and Cristian Mungiu (one of the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian film directors and screenwriters). An event dedicated to a special volume, to be published by Editura Muzeelor Literare, will bring together three renowned Ukrainian writers directly involved in the war in Ukraine: Olena Herasymiuk (poet, combatant, paramedic, civic activist), Pavlo Matyusha (poet, prose writer, translator, captain in the Armed Forces of Ukraine), Serhii Demchuk (writer, journalist, soldier in the Second International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine).
FILIT 2025 will host other renowned international writers, translated into several languages and winners of prestigious awards and distinctions, such as: Nick Bradley, Nikola Scott (United Kingdom), Eugène (Switzerland), Dorota Masłowska (Poland), Alma Mathijsen (Netherlands), Judith Poznan (Germany), Leo Vardiashvili (Georgia / United Kingdom), Carlo Vecce (Italy), Isidoros Zourgos (Greece). They will be joined by Romanian authors, appreciated for their literary contributions: Shauki Al-Gareeb, Cezarina Anghilac, Lorina Bălteanu, Ioana Bâldea Constantinescu, Florin Bican, Corin Braga, Mimi Brănescu, Ruxandra Cesereanu, Marian Coman, Bogdan Crețu, Silvia Dumitru, Cristian Fulaș, Tudor Ganea, Andrei Gorzo, Ciprian Mitoceanu, Veronica D. Niculescu, Daniela Rațiu, Andreea Răsuceanu, Ligia Ruscu, Radu Vancu, Alina Voinea.
Poets will be attending the event as well, between the 22nd and the 26th of October 2025: Marius Aldea, Radu Andriescu, Șerban Axinte, Cristina Drăghici, Victor Fală, Dóra Mărcuțiu-Rácz, Oana Paler, Bogdan-Alexandru Petcu, George State, Aleksandar Stoicovici, János Szántai, Ioana Vintilă.
FILIT 2025 will also host foreign translators, who have an essential contribution in promoting Romanian literature abroad and the publishing of Romanian authors on the international stage: Sindre Andersen (Norway), Anita Bernacchia (Italy), Monica Cure (Romania / USA), Peter Groth (Germany), Laure Hinckel (France), Radosława Janowska-Lascar (Poland), Đura Miočinović (Serbia), Corina Oproae (Spain), Szonda Szabolcs (Romania – Hungarian language), Jiřina Vyorálková (Czech Republic).
FILIT is one of the stops in the European Festival Tour part of CELA – Connecting Emerging Literary Artists, a project co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme, which supports writers and translators in languages with low editorial visibility. Writers Ajda Bračič (Slovenia) and Corinne Heyrman (Netherlands / Belgium) will engage in a dialogue on stage with their translators, Sergiu Lozinschi (Slovenian), Mădălina Balea and Andreea Bălteanu (Dutch). The Romanian team of translators will also be present at the festival: Jessica Bilcec (Ukrainian), Ilinca Gângă (Spanish), George Doru Ivan (Italian), Maria Lupescu (Bulgarian), Aleksandra Petrov (Serbian), Andrei Săndulescu (Czech), Oana-Andreea Stoe (Polish).
The names mentioned above are the first part of the guest list for FILIT 2025 – the full list of special guests (including writers, cultural managers, editors, journalists and artists) will be revealed shortly.
FILIT is a yearly event organised by the Iași National Museum of Romanian Literature and funded by the Iași County Council. This year’s edition is supported by the City Hall of Iași and takes place under the high patronage of the European Commission Representation in Romania and under the patronage of the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO. Further details will be published on the website www.filit-iasi.ro.