A wide-ranging series of events dedicated to writer Norman Manea, marking his 90th birthday, will be held in Bucharest on Thursday and Friday, the National Museum of Romanian Literature has announced.

Organised by the National Museum of Romanian Literature in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute, the 'Carol I' Central University Library, the Faculty of Letters at the University of Bucharest and the Romanian Writers' Union, with support from Observator cultural magazine and Polirom Publishing House, the event will bring together, both in Bucharest and online, writers, literary critics, researchers, academics, diplomats and cultural figures from Romania, France, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Israel and the Republic of Moldova. They will discuss the work, intellectual journey and international reception of one of Romania's most important contemporary prose writers, according to a press release posted on Facebook by the National Museum of Romanian Literature.

Over the two days, contributions will be made, among many others, by Mireille Radoi, director of the 'Carol I' Central University Library; Corina Incrosnatu, president of the Romanian Cultural Institute; Varujan Vosganian, president of the Romanian Writers' Union; academician Mircea Martin, one of the leading figures in Romanian literary criticism and theory; writer Gabriela Adamesteanu, Andrei Muraru, Romania's ambassador to the United States, and Ion Jinga, diplomat and Permanent Representative of Romania to the Council of Europe, both via video message; Andrei Ujica, filmmaker and director whose work includes major cinematic essays on recent history and collective memory; Felicia Waldman, associate professor at the Centre for Hebrew Studies within the Faculty of Letters; Dan Croitoru, editorial director of Polirom Publishing House's world literature collection, which has published Norman Manea's author series in Romania.

A key moment of the event will be a video message from Norman Manea himself, addressed to participants on the occasion of his birthday celebrations.

The international dimension of the event will be highlighted by the participation of prominent figures whose research, writings, translations and critical contributions have helped bring Romanian literature and Norman Manea's work to international audiences. Among the guests will be Michel Carassou, a French writer and literary historian specialising in the interwar avant-garde; Igor Webb, an American writer and essayist, professor at Adelphi University, known for his studies of post-Holocaust literature; Benjamin Balint, a Romanian-American-Israeli writer and historian and winner of the prestigious Sami Rohr Prize; and Robert Boyers, cultural critic, professor at Skidmore College and founder of the intellectual magazine Salmagundi.

During the commemorative session entitled 'Norman Manea in Dialogue with World Literature', dedicated to his literary and publishing connections with the international cultural sphere and the reception of his work beyond Romania's borders, contributions will be delivered by Alberto Manguel, the celebrated Argentine-Canadian writer, essayist and historian of reading, and former director of Argentina's National Library; Mercedes Monmany, a Spanish writer, literary critic and essayist whose extensive work focuses on European literature; and Jan Koneffke, a German writer, poet and translator with close ties to Romania and its literary world.

Several discussions will also be held on Norman Manea's work, its place in Romanian literature and its dialogue with world literature.

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Over several decades, Norman Manea's work has transcended the boundaries of Romanian literature, engaging with major themes in contemporary writing, including memory, exile, totalitarianism, identity, freedom and individual responsibility.

Having left Romania at the age of 50, following a life marked by deportation during his childhood and subsequent confrontation with communist totalitarianism, Norman Manea embraced the condition of exile without severing his ties with the Romanian language.

Translated into numerous languages and honoured with major international awards, the writer has built a body of work in which personal experience continually intersects with historical memory and the major dilemmas of the 20th century and the contemporary world. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Popescu; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)

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