Bookfest is the most important book fair in Romania and the only event of the Romanian publishing industry that managed to achieve a prominent international dimension: 2017 marks the 12th edition of Bookfest, the only event organized by the publishers through the Association of Romanian Publishers (AER), the first promoter in 2006, under the then-president Gabriel Liiceanu, from Humanitas Publishing Group. Since 2007, Bookfest is being organized by a team from AER led by president Grigore Arsene, from Curtea Veche Publishing. Since 2012, Bookfest has been expanding and, in addition to the main event, local editions of the book fair were organized in other cities in Romania such as Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Tîrgu-Mureș, Brașov; there have also been two special Christmas editions in Bucharest and even another international edition in Chișinău, Moldova, in August 2016. The next international edition in Chișinău will be held from August 30th to September 3rd 2017. In 2017, Bookfest is organized under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, as same as in 2016. Last year, the 100.000 visitors were able to take part in over 300 events, ranging from book launches, debates and seminars, to cinema screenings and interactive events. Israel was the official Guest of Honor: among the guests were the Israeli authors Zeruya Shalev, Fania Oz-Salzberger, Meir Shalev, Dror Mishan, Gil Hovav, Rony Oren. In previous international editions, the following countries were Guests of Honor: Spain (2010), Hungary (2011), France (2012), German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland – 2013), Poland (2014) and the Czech Republic (2015).

Read more on Aldus publication European Book Fairs: Facts and Figures