Romania
Literature Now is not a demand by me (though it could be!) but the name of an
English-language website devoted to, as its name suggests, recent developments
in Romanian literature. Edited by Cezar
Gheorghe and Emanuela Ignățoiu-Sora, it is subtitled ‘Everything you need to
know about Romanian literature’, which is a fine aspiration, and in time the
site promises to become a key hub of information on the subject. It is devoted to writers at all stages of
their careers, and showcases a thriving literary scene in Romania.
As
today is World Writers’ Day, a sadly under-celebrated event, Romanian
Literature Now on Facebook is promoting the website’s pages devoted to Romanian
authors; these provide biographical information and translated tasters of their
output. Some pages include videos of
readings and interviews, though they are in Romanian. Mircea Cărtărescu’s naturally is extensive,
with a bibliography and external links.
The
editors would like to have more excerpts from a range of writers translated
into English and made freely available on the website. To this end they have recently set up a Patreon
page, collecting donations both to help promote Romanian writers generally and to
finance translations. As print editions
of Romanian authors tend to be issued by small-scale publishers in short runs they are quite expensive and not easy to get hold of, so this is a welcome
initiative and worthy of support.
Romanian
Literature Now’s website can be found here:
The
Patreon donation link:
