A Literary Landmark: Mircea Cărtărescu’s "Blinding: The Left Wing" Launches in the UK

The UK tour of acclaimed Romanian author Mircea Cartarescu has ended but the butterflies in the tummy are still there. The tour ended on Thursday with a grand finale at Romanian Cultural Institute in London in front of a full house. Mr. Cărtărescu took us on a memorable journey of his writings, and literature in general. Everything from matrix, quantum physics, 16th century paintings in Naples to his writing habits was in the mix as we celebrated the publication into English by Penguin of his book „Blinding: The Left Wing”, included by Der Spiegel in top 100 best novels of the century.

The evening with Mircea Cartarescu and a full house at Waterstones King’s Road, celebrating the publication of ‘Blinding: The Left Wing’ by Penguin and his conversation with literary critic and author Leo Robson was a captivating journey into his own writing as well as into the vast landscape of universal literature. A true celebration of imagination, craft, and the power of storytelling.

We were happy to meet many British and international readers who confessed their admiration for the revered Romanian author, as well as old friends of ours and of Penguin Random House. It was also a joy to have with us H.E. Laura Popescu, Romania’s ambassador in the UK.

Really grateful to Mircea Cărtărescu and Penguin for this tour and to our photographer Alex Coman for capturing those portraits. It was electric in the room.