A Romanian Literary Sensation: Mircea Cărtărescu, the multi-award-winning author of Solenoid, is back in New York
Mircea Cărtărescu, author of Solenoid, one of last years’ international literary sensations, and the most recent winner of the prestigious Dublin Literary Award, is back in New York. After an extensive US tour in 2023, which took him from one coast to the other, the Romanian author has returned to the American metropolis as writer-in-residence at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, where he teaches a 4-week course on “Postmodernism vs. Tyranny: A Romanian Literary Revolution”.
His presence, received with applause in the seminar room, could not go unnoticed outside the academic circuit, so around this literary residency was born a whole program of meetings with the public, organized by Deep Vellum publishing house together with the Romanian Cultural Institute (a partnership formula already successfully tested in the previous series of events).
The novel Solenoid was awarded the 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and more recently won author Mircea Cărtărescu and translator Sean Cotter the Dublin Literary Award, one of the most important international literary prizes. After its publication in the United States, it was declared one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, Publishers Weekley, The Financial Times and Words Without Borders.
The program starts this weekend with Mircea Cărtărescu’s participation at the Brooklyn Book Festival, alongside Iman Mersal, Daniel Saldaña Paris and Kateřina Tučková, in a panel moderated by publisher Will Evans of Deep Vellum, to talk about the mechanics and impact of autobiographical & historical writing.
➡️ “Archives of the Self”, Borough Hall Courtroom, Sunday, September 29, 2024 (5:00 pm)
Two events will take place next week, one at Columbia University, where Mircea Cărtărescu participates in a discussion with translator Sean Cotter and Harriman director Valentina Izmirlieva, and one at the Romanian Cultural Institute, where the writer and his translator are invited to a meeting with the New York readers (the event will include a conversation with RCINY director Dorian Branea and a book signing session).
➡️ “An Evening with Mircea Cărtărescu”, Harriman Institute Atrium, Thursday, October 3, 2024 (6:00 pm)
➡️ “Mircea Cărtărescu, One of the Towering Figures of Contemporary Literature, Comes to RCI New York”, Romanian Cultural Institute, Friday, October 4, 2024 (7:00 pm)
The program concludes on October 13 in Dallas, where the Hay Festival presents Mircea Cărtărescu in a dialogue with Sean Cotter about the themes of his novels, the writing process and the influences that helped him discover his literary voice.
➡️ “Mircea Cărtărescu in Conversation with Sean Cotter”, The Texas Theatre (Dallas), Sunday, October 13, 2024 (4:30 pm)
Over the years, Mircea Cărtărescu’s international fame has grown enormously, thanks to a long string of translations into more than 20 languages. He now has groups of fans all over the world, who follow his launch tours like a rock superstar’s. But every now and then, a totally unexpected, all the more miraculous, encounter takes place: somewhere in Latin America, he is recognized on the street, and the person who stops him pulls a copy of “Solenoid” out of his bag. When do you think the moment will come when something similar will happen to him in New York?
📸 Photo 1: Mircea Cărtărescu at McNally Jackson in NYC, 2023 © Johnny Vacar; photo 2: Mircea Cărtărescu & Sean Cotter in Dublin, 2024 © Fennell Photography