GAUDEAMUS FAIR, A JOY OF SPIRIT, EDUCATION AND CULTURE
On December 4-8, 2024, the 31st edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair took place, an exceptional event of Romanian culture. The fair, initiated and organized by Radio Romania, took place in Pavilion B2 of the Romexpo Complex. The honorary president of the 31st edition was the writer Mircea Cărtărescu, a leading Romanian author and winner of prestigious national and international awards.
The Gaudeamus 2024 fair brought together over 200 participants, Romanian publishers, including the most important ones, Romanian and foreign book distribution agencies, university publishers, music and educational games distributors. The fair hosted more than 600 events, book launches, debates, meetings with writers, autograph sessions, held in specially designed spaces or at the publishers’ stands. Some were streamed online. The youngest readers, children, were given their own “Ion Creangă” area, in keeping with the tradition of the event.
The Gaudeamus Fair was again this year a privileged setting for books, culture and education through reading. The rich and diverse publishing offer and the large number of visitors, many of them young people, made the event a celebration of books and reading. The joy of the Gaudeamus Fair was amplified by the large number of children, who spent a lot of time at the stands, browsing through books, buying volumes under the guidance of their parents or accompanying teachers, in the magical atmosphere of the printed word and the Winter Holidays.
The Academy of Romanian Scientists was also present at this year’s edition of the Fair through a number of its members who are also authors, some of them prestigious, in various areas of science, research and culture. At the Fair, Prof. dr. Eng. Doina Banciu, president of the Romanian Academy of Scientists, said: “Gaudeamus is a celebration of joy, an encouragement to enjoy books and reading. This is why we are delighted to be present in this chosen space of the spirit, where the elites of culture and science, authors, readers and book lovers meet. We are happy to see many curious children and young people looking for and consulting books at the publishers’ stands. Let us never forget that education is achieved through books and reading, that intellectual, spiritual and moral formation is achieved through access to the ideas, values and teaching of books. Even though we live in the Age of Digital Technology, even though we are witnessing the development of Artificial Intelligence – the fifth Industrial Revolution – books are not losing their importance, but remain, now and always, the essential support for our intellectual and spiritual formation and growth. The book represents, par excellence, our humanity. The Romanian Academy of Scientists, an institution dedicated to education and research, values and celebrates the book as a fundamental means of education and knowledge in a world that develops through knowledge.”
