Romanian Literature Now: Translation, Voice, Identity

📚 Last night, in the wonderful setting of the Waterstones bookshop on the King's Road, the Romanian programme associated with The London Book Fair 2026 officially began.

The first event, “Romanian Literature Now: Translation, Voice, Identity”, showcased recent titles by Romanian authors published in English, either in the original or in translation.

The following titles were presented:

📖 Pain is a Foreign Country: An Anthology of Recent Romanian Poetry, ed. Paul Doru Mugur & Claudiu Komartin (Histria Books, 2025)

📖 Cătălina Florescu, The Brain Is the Ocean We Live In (Solis Press, 2025)

📖 Liliana Corobca, Too Great a Sky (Seven Stories Press, 2024)

📖 Paul Doru Mugur, Psychonautica: Short Stories (New Meridian Arts, 2022)

The evening was opened by Aura Woodward, Director of Romanian Cultural Institute in London, who highlighted the importance of Romania’s presence at the London Book Fair and briefly introduced the evening’s guests: translator Monica Cure, author and academic Cătălina Florescu, as well as authors, editors and translators Claudiu Komartin and Paul Doru Mugur.

The discussion was moderated by Will Evans, founder and publisher of Deep Vellum Publishing.

Over the course of nearly two hours, the conversation — followed by a lively Q&A with the audience — explored topics such as the importance of literature in translation, the challenges inherent in the very concept of translation, and the efforts required to promote and establish works from so-called “smaller” literatures on international markets. Examples from the books featured in the event illustrated many of these themes.

The speakers also reflected on the act of literary creation and what it means to each of them, as well as on the particular challenges of compiling and editing anthology volumes.

🙏 Many thanks to our guests and to the audience for their thoughtful and engaging questions.

📍 And our warm thanks to the Waterstones team for hosting us.

Wonderful photography by Alex Coman.