The participation of the Republic of Moldova as guest of honour of the Bookfest International Book Fair is a privilege, a huge responsibility, but also an occasion of great pride, because we come home from home, from our people to our people, united by the broad wings of the Romanian language, President Maia Sandu said.
„It is with great emotion, but also with great joy, that I welcome the opening of the Bookfest International Book Fair, the most beautiful possible form of celebrating literature, knowledge and the creative human spirit. For us, those of us from the Republic of Moldova, this edition is of overwhelming significance, because we come from home, from our own to ours, united by the broad wings of the Romanian language. It is a privilege, an immense responsibility, but also a great pride for us to be this year’s guests of honour. It is a gesture of great generosity on Romania’s part, a gesture of solidarity, support and trust, a gesture that goes beyond the limits of literature and the publishing industry,” underlined Maia Sandu, in the message presented by presidential advisor Angela Brasoveanu.
President Maia Sandu believes that the presence at Bookfest of the Republic of Moldova as guest of honour „is a test of quality and a measure of talent, effort, dedication and consistency for all those involved in the process of creating and promoting books.” „And they are many, authors, publishers, editors, proofreaders, designers and illustrators, printers, distributors, promoters, cultural journalists, literary critics, managers, teachers, librarians and booksellers,” she added.
Sandu pointed out that „Bookfest, in the Bucharest edition, as well as in the Chisinau edition, clearly shows that, from a cultural point of view, borders no longer exist.”
„We function as a whole, we influence each other and develop together, we open our arms wide. You to embrace us, we to embrace you. The warmth on both sides is the same. It’s been a long road to here in history and politics and books. Writers in the seventies risked having a criminal record for reading books in Romanian, writers in the eighties fought a fierce battle to synchronise with literature from across the Prut, writers in the nineties benefited from the first scholarships from the Romanian state, training as writers in Cluj, Bucharest, Timisoara or Iasi. Those of the 2000s and the subsequent generations have freely waded to the bed of Romanian literature without feeling its shores,” pointed out the president of the Republic of Moldova.
Maia Sandu voiced hope that the Republic of Moldova and Romania will be reunited in the „big European family.”
„We all hope that we are at a point where there is no turning back, that we will all, together, be part of the great European family, part of the free world, where books are not burned at the stake and writers do not rot in gulags or in trenches, and ordinary citizens are not imprisoned for a white sheet or for the word peace,” Maia Sandu added.
The 17th edition of the International Book Fair Bookfest opened on Wednesday at Romexpo, with the Republic of Moldova being this year’s guest of honour. Under the slogan „I embrace you, Republic of Moldova,” a common expression in the current speech in the linguistic and cultural space across the Prut, equivalent to the phrase „I give you a hug,” the guest country has prepared about 40 events, which will be enjoyed by those who cross the threshold of Pavilion B2.
AGERPRES
