The 15th Bucharest Bookfest in Romania and the Chisinau Bookfest in Moldova due to have taken place at end May are the latest publishing event victims of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Romania’s government has extended the State of Emergency until mid-May and the Bookfest board have wisely recognised that even should the State of Emergency be lifted at that time it would be senseless to try proceed with the Bookfest this year given the disruption already wrought by the pandemic.
Bucharest will be the second Bookfest this year to be cancelled.
In March the Timișoara Bookfest was axed, and as noted then, the Bucharest event was on the TNPS At Risk list.
The Bucharest Bookfest has a twin international edition held in Chisinau, Moldova. This is also cancelled.
Hopes are that the Romanian Bookfests set for later in the year – Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureş and Braşov – may yet go ahead.
Time will tell.
In addition, the Transylvania Film Festival set for May 29 has been postponed.
