The International Festival of Literature and Translation (FILIT) – 23-27 October 2013 – announces the completion of the most important stage in the publication of the two English-language anthologies of poetry and prose from Iaşi. The editors, literary critics Doris MIRONESCU (poetry) and Antonio PATRAȘ (prose), have already finalised their selections of authors and texts to be included in the anthologies.
Each anthology includes fourteen authors from different generations and of various aesthetic directions. The two anthologies have been translated by Alistair Ian BLYTH, one of the most prolific translators of Romanian literature into English, who has covered highly diverse literary areas, from Ion Creangă to Gellu NAUM.
“These two volumes, which will be published by the newly founded Literary Museums Press, are an investment in the promotion of contemporary literature from Iaşi and in the image of Iaşi. I have seen from my own experience how important it is to be promoted as an author abroad via high-quality translations. The anthologies are not an investment that smacks of the sentimental, but rather they will provide a vital working instrument within the framework of FILIT. We won’t be speaking blindly about literature from Iaşi to the numerous publishers, foreign writers and translators, but rather we will be able to present to them, in a major international language, a panorama, professionally put together by two literary critics and university specialists. I am positive that some authors will find a foreign publisher in this way, and this will contribute, however little, to winning for the city the title of European Cultural Capital,” declared Dan LUNGU, the Festival’s manager and director of the Iaşi Museum of Romanian Literature.
The fourteen poets from Iaşi selected by critic Doris MIRONESCU are Constantin ACOSMEI, Radu ANDRIESCU, Liviu ANTONESEI, Michael ASTNER, Şerban AXINTE, Emil BRUMARU, Mariana CODRUŢ, Daniel CORBU, Nichita DANILOV, Matei HUTOPILA, Ovidiu NIMIGEAN, Cassian MARIA SPIRIDON, Nicolae TURTUREANU and Lucian VASILIU.
“The anthology sets out to present the best of the poetry currently being written in Iaşi. It comprises talented poets, who have already left their mark on Romanian literature or who, in the case of the youngest among them, will undoubtedly to so in future. Fourteen poetic adventures, for readers curious about what kind of poetry is being written today in a city that has always traditionally been a city of poets,” writes Doris MIRONESCU in the preface to the volume.
Iaşi prose writers Şerban ALEXANDRU, Liviu ANTONESEI, Călin CIOBOTARI, Mariana CODRUŢ, Nichita DANILOV, Dan DOBOŞ, Vasile IANCU, Grigore ILISEI, Cătălin MIHULEAC, Ovidiu NIMIGEAN, Radu PAVEL GHEO, Adrian G. ROMILA, Valentin TALPALARU, Dorin SPINEANU comprise the selection made by critic Antonio PATRAŞ.
“In the first place, I was thinking about how ‘locally’ representative were the prose writers, the most talented of whom have become national and international names, while others, although very good, have not had the same opportunity. Another aspect I had to take into account was a balanced mix of every generation of authors: some of the prose writers in the anthology have a substantial body of work behind them, while others are at the beginning of their literary careers,” says Antonio PATRAȘ in his preface to the anthology of prose.
The volumes, published by the Iaşi Museum of Romanian Literature, will be launched at a special event dedicated to the literature of Iaşi during the 2013 International Festival of Literature and Translation.
The Festival will directly benefit from the international recognition earned by Romanian writers in recent years. The large number of translations and invitations to public readings in other countries achieved by these writers has drawn the Romanian literary scene out of the shadows and into the limelight. In addition, it is significant that our country has already been guest of honour at a number of prestigious international book fairs: Madrid, Turin, Paris, and, in 2013, Göteborg. It is high time that literary events on a European scale were held in Romania too.
From 23 to 27 October 2013, Iaşi will be the centre of the East-European publishing industry, enabling the public to meet with the major writers, translators, media personalities, festival directors and literary critics from Romania and around the world. The city of Iaşi will be celebrating books and literature alongside more than a hundred special guests, from Nobel Prize-winning authors to international stars and publishing professionals, as well as readers from all over the Moldavia region and the rest of the country.