A book lover always feels most comfortable when in a library. How can you add up to that mesmerizing sensation? By adding cheerful events in this scheme. One such example is the short prose festival which was held in Cărturești Cluj during 7-8 November and reunited both prestigious authors like Diana Bădica, Alexandru Potcoavă, Florin Irimia or Ana Donțu with their eager public.
We had the great opportunity to speak with Denisia Susanu , the organizer of the event and a reading advocate. Although she’s been working at Cărturești for a short time, her aim is clear: to bring the complex universe of the book closer to people, in general. Here’s her insight into the world of literature and why it is vital for our existence.
How was this project created? Did you have any sources of inspiration?
For the short prose festival, the idea started from my colleagues in Bucharest, who realised that the short prose is a phenomenon in the contemporary literature, that meaning that more and more authors got published, a lot of short prose volumes appeared, especially at the Polirom publishing house. We thought that since Cărturești celebrates its 19th anniversary this month and since it is part of our platform where we give voice to the young, contemporary Romanian writers, we could organize a short prose festival, which is now at its first edition. We hope it will continue, it seems to be successful so far.
Short prose is a literary genre that is very suitable for the contemporary spirit and for this agitated lifestyle, when you don’t have time. It’s for the best if you want to read something: in the late evening or early morning you can easily read a short prose.
Photos by Cărturești Cluj on Facebook.
What contribution does short prose bring to the society?
As I was saying, I think it is really well welcomed since it fits this contemporary lifestyle and I think it can contribute to making reading more popular. A lot of people don’t read because they don’t have time, they are too tired, but if you have short stories, which require less time and also grants them with the pleasure of reading. We also have problems with the attention span, we are very distracted, we can’t concentrate, we are scared by a book that is 700 pages long.
What can you tell me about the invited speakers?
What we tried to do is make a tournament, move the authors through the country. All of them have at least one prose volume already published, this was the main criterion of selection. They come from many different generations, we tried to bring young and more ”classicised” writers, who have a certain prestige, we tried to maintain the women/men balance, but turned out to be impossibly difficult.
Photo by Cărturești Cluj on Facebook.
What expectations did you have about the public? Here I’m referring to the level of their engagement with the speakers.
I expect them, at the very end, when given the opportunity to interact, to express their curiosities, as it has happened before. They want to know how authors write, where they take their inspiration from, how difficult it is to write, how do you get published. I had this expectation and it got accomplished through the nature of the event. The most important argument is their passion and interest for this domain.
Do you have plans for any other plans for similar events in the future?
My programme is to popularize literature in the younger social categories, especially contemporary literature, which I believe we can all easily identify with as generation and as spirit of the epoch. It can transcribe into words feelings that we all have and can make us feel less lonely. It reaches us in a different way that a novel from the Victorian age or from the interwar period does. It contributed to the sentiment of belonging. I’m trying to set up a reading club next year, with monthly recurrence and to have a moderator with literature ideas, to have an interested public, willing to read from one month to the other the given book. I’m planning to give out certain sales, discounts and I hope to get the teenagers and youngsters closer to the art of lecture.
Image by Thought Catalog on Unsplash.
What piece of advice do you have for people who haven’t attended such events yet?
First of all, to be curious. This apathy, that is a generalized symptom, should make you want to get out of your skin, to acknowledge more, to have a focus in your mind that you like something and that you want to meet other people with similar tastes. I like books. Therefore, I should go to a library, that’s where I can find something beautiful. Keep yourselves open and always willing to hear, see and experiment new things.
Cărturești is the paradise for every book-addict. Their events always manage to bring the literary closer together and to abridge the gap between authors and enthusiasts, creating the perfect, informal environment. Books for the win! 🙂
RiyaazMaison 