Announcing ROMANIA ROCKS 2, a joyfully original festival of Romanian-British literary events, initiated by the Romanian Cultural Institute (RCI) in London and featuring the best and brightest “rock star authors” from both countries in conversation about the literature and ideas that matter to them and to the world today. Philippe Sands, Georgina Harding, Jonathan Coe, Tessa Dunlop, Monique Roffey, Lionel Shriver and Tracy Chevalier are in the line-up of UK-based authors, who will be head-to-head in conversation with their Romanian counterparts Mircea Cărtărescu, Miruna Vlada, Ioana Pârvulescu, Magda Cârneci, Doina Ruști, Ioana Nicolaie and Lavinia Braniște and many more.
ROMANIA ROCKS 2 is a week-long festival taking place between 2nd–9th November at the RCI in London, celebrating a unique Romanian-British collaboration in readings, conversation and music.
ROMANIA ROCKS 2 includes the headline, in-person evening Rock Talks, as well as online workshops in translation and poetry. You can access the full programme from 15th October 2021 via the websites of the Romanian Cultural Institute and its festival partner the European Literature Network. The launch Rock Talk event on 2nd November takes the form of a BBC Radio broadcast, in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature. All events take place in the beautiful glittering ballroom of the RCI in London, fully integrating physical and digital participation in order to reach not just Britain and Romania but audiences around the world. All Covid-19 precautions will be met, all events are free, filmed and live-streamed and will be available subsequently on YouTube via the RCI and partner platforms. The festival is supported by a dedicated bookshop selling books from both the Romanian and British authors.
The general goal of Romania Rocks is to make an impact by bringing together world class authors from both Romania and Britain to get to know each other, their cultures and their work, to encourage greater exchange, more translations and broader readership. The UK may have left the EU and its readers may only read 4% in translation but the idea of Romania Rocks is to keep the European literary lights in Britain switched firmly on, as well as to shine a special light on Romania, one of the most beautiful and creative countries in Europe. The original Romania Rocks festival in 2020 was the first festival of its kind and the first time such a large number of Romania’s and Britain’s authors met in collaborative, creative conversation. It was the brainchild of the Romanian Cultural Institute (RCI) in London and the European Literature Network (ELNet) UK and was an outstanding success – in spite of the pandemic and of lockdown – running over four weeks and featuring major authors from both countries, from Ben Okri to Elif Shafak, Ana Blandiana to Matéi Vișniec, covering topics from translation to revolution.
If you’d like to revisit the first ROMANIA ROCKS from 2020, here’s the link to the full programme of events and recordings on the RCI website.
If you’d like to access your free copy of THE ROMANIAN RIVETER, the first British literary magazine dedicated entirely to Romania, published by the European Literature Network, download here.
ROMANIA ROCKS 2
For more information and any press enquiries please contact:
Rosie Goldsmith and Anna Blasiak, European Literature Network
contact@eurolitnetwork.com
Schedule and Events
The festival schedule, including the full list of the headline events, ROCK TALKS, will be available from 15 October on http://www.icr-london.co.uk and https://www.eurolitnetwork.com.
Due to the current Covid-19 crisis audiences must register, as in-person numbers will be limited. All events will therefore be filmed, live-streamed and subsequently made available for free via our websites. Registration for free tickets will begin after the full programme is published, from 15th October 2021.
Romania Rocks 2 Festival Partners:
Royal Society of Literature
BBC Radio 3
European Literature Network
PEN International
Social Media: #RomaniaRocks2 @RCILondon @eurolitnet
About the Romanian Cultural Institute: The Romanian Cultural Institute is Romania’s official organization which promotes Romanian culture, art and civilisation in the UK through international partnership programmes and events. It is a non-profit, non-political organisation, open to engage in any form of collaboration and partnership project-work: from government agencies to NGOs and individual artists or cultural promoters. In London, the Romanian Cultural Institute, located at 1 Belgrave Square, works to increase the visibility and impact of the Romanian culture in Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland and to create enduring partnerships between Romanian artists and institutions and their local counterparts. More at www.icrlondon.co.uk| www.facebook.com/ICRLondon
About the European Literature Network: The European Literature Network’s principal mission is to help promote and champion European literature and translation in the UK, and across all the countries of Europe. We are a small dedicated group of passionate professionals who believe in networking, innovation, mutual support and European cultural collaboration. We meet in networking groups and run a popular networking website. We publish Riveting Reviews, The Riveter magazine and The Riveting Interviews (audio and video podcasts) which focus on European literature in translation. ELNet serves as both a physical and online support hub – you do the work and send us your ideas, news of your workshops, events, festivals, blogs, videos, poetry, prose and translations and we promote them. ELNet is free, voluntary and independent. ELNet is open to anyone serious about promoting European Literature – publishers, agents, translators, festival directors, arts managers, journalists and writers. As we operate without funding, we are especially grateful for any donations. Our tailored workshops, events and festivals are available on request and with appropriate sponsorship.
More at: www.eurolitnetwork.com | https://www.facebook.com/EuroLitNetwork
ROMANIA ROCKS: This unique literary festival takes its name from Romania’s world-famous living, moving, growing rocks, the stunning geographical phenomenon known as “Trovants”.
Hence our distinctive “rocks logo”. Romania’s rocks are also a superb metaphor for its vibrant and original literature and for a festival that aims to address some of the “cornerstone issues” of the day with Romanian and British authors.
Full PR can be also downloaded here.