European Literature Night returns to Bucharest on Wednesday, May 29 – the opening day of the International Fair Bookfest 2013 – with a unique literary proposal. 13 partners – cultural institutes and embassies – are inviting the literature fans in 13 atypical venues where they will have the chance to discover or rediscover the texts of classic and contemporary European authors. The fragments will be read by actors, authors, journalists and other public figures.

The readings, lasting up to 20 minutes each, will take place at the same time, between 19h30 and 22h30 (each reading being repeated at every half hour) in specially selected locations for an unforgettable literary night (city area Blvd. Carol I – Blvd. I.C.Bratianu– Blvd. Coposu – Traian Street): Diana 4, the Living Room Café, Zoom Out Lounge, Aristocats Bistro, Alchemia Art Gallery & Lounge, Hunters and Fishers General Association, Bucharest Stock Exchange, Lente & cafea, Saga Film, MOL Coposu gas station, La Scena, GreenTea, Blind Restaurant.

The actors Ioana Abur, Florin Busuioc, Ilinca Goia, Gabriela Ioniţă, Nicoleta Lefter, Axel Moustache, Marian Râlea, Mihai Smarandache, Mihaela Teleoacă, Adrian Titieni, the rapper Norzeatic, the journalist Cătălin Ştefănescu and the writer Mircea Dinescu will complement with their voices some pages belonging to well-known contemporary authors such as Jonathan Coe, Péter Esterházy, Paweł Huelle, Daniel Glattauer, Thierry Debroux, Jérôme Ferrari, Florina Ilis, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Elif Shafak, but also to some classic authors – Hrabal, Hašek, Kafka, Joyce, Buzzati, Muñoz Molina.

Since teleportation is still a matter of science fiction, the books and bikes lovers will be able to move from one reading to another using the bikes offered for rental by Green Revolution Association within the I’Velo bike-sharing project. The European Literature Night is not only about readings from the best literary translations into Romanian, but also about contests with books as prizes and other surprises that you need to discover at each venue.

European Literature Night is a EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) cultural project. The 2012 edition was held in 24 cities from 20 countries. This year's event in Bucharest, along with those in Prague, Brno, Dublin, Lisbon, Vilnius and Wrocław, are financed with the support of the EU’s Culture Programme (2007-2013). In Bucharest, the project is organized, under the coordination of the Romanian Cultural Institute, by EUNIC in Romania cluster members (Austrian Cultural Forum, WallonieBruxelles Delegation, Czech Center, French Institute, "Vito Grasso" Italian Cultural Institute, British Council, Polish Institute, Camões, Instituto da Lingua Cooperação's yes/ Embassy of Portugal in Romania, Cervantes Institute, "Yunus Emre" Turkish CulturalCentre, Balassi Institute – Hungarian Institute in Bucharest and RCI), together with the Irish Embassy in Romania. For the period October 2012 – October 2013, the Polish Institute holds the presidency of the EUNIC Bucharest cluster.

All the details about the event are available here  and here.

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