Bookfest International Book Fair to open in Bucharest this week

One of Romania’s most important literary events, the Bookfest International Book Fair, will open in Bucharest this week with 158 exhibitors, 455 events and a Bulgarian Guest of Honour programme featuring International Booker Prize winner Georgi Gospodinov.

The Bulgarian programme will feature meetings with authors, presentations of newly translated works and Romanian-Bulgarian cultural dialogues. Among the guests are Georgi Gospodinov, winner of the 2023 International Booker Prize; Ioanna Elmy, one of the most promising voices of contemporary Bulgarian literature; award-winning author Elena Alexieva; children’s author Petia Kokudeva; poet Nadejda Radulova; and writer Kostadin Kostadinov. Bulgarian writer Todor P. Todorov, nominated for the 2024 European Union Prize for Literature, will also take part in a dialogue with Romanian writer Bogdan Crețu. 

The fair will also include international stands and professional events. Frankfurter Buchmesse will present a German Collective Stand at the fair for the first time since 2013, with books from German-language publishers across fiction, non-fiction, children’s and YA literature, comics, graphic novels and romance. The German programme will include the discussion “On the Way to Frankfurt”, connected to Romania’s upcoming role as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2028.  

Bookfest is organised by the Romanian Publishers Association under the aegis of the Romanian Publishers Federation. According to the Aldus European Book Fairs network, it is Romania’s most important book fair and the country’s only publishing industry event to have developed a prominent international dimension. The fair was first held in 2006 and has also expanded beyond Bucharest, with local editions held in several Romanian cities, including Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Târgu Mureș and Brașov.

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Main image: visitbucharest.