Conferences

Video-streaming

Photo by Dinu Lazar

On Sunday, 29th April 2018, from 11.00 a.m., in the NTB Black Box Hall, Mrs. Silvia Colfescu shall hold the conference on the topic Stories from Bucharest – a City with the Calling of Survival.

About the Conference

„From 1711 to 1916, Romania was invaded by the Russians ten times, and in the years 1940 and 1944 they added two further occupations to this list. As all invaders, also the great friends from the East have robbed the country, humiliated the inhabitants, regardless whether they were great aristocrats or simple peasants, they behaved as any winner in a defeated country.

A consequence of the invasion from 1828-1829, during the Russian-Turkish War, has been however, to a certain extent, beneficial: the Russians have occupied the Principalities until the payment of the war damages by the Turks. The tzar has commissioned Count Pavel Kiseleff to lead both Principalities. The count has inaugurated an order and discipline regime and has issued the first Constitution of the country, the Organic Regulation. It was a period in which the Principalities have made big steps on the path of civilisation. The memory of the count is perpetuated by the Kiseleff Road, thus named in his honour. Kiseleff, a tamed invader, defeated by the discrete charm of the city. In the end, assimilated in a way.

Assimilation – one of the survival methods of a city which, for centuries, has always been finding ways of survival. And flourishing. Because things, that do not grow, die out. And Bucharest, always hurt, often despised, untidy to a great extent, is alive.” Silvia Colfescu

About Silvia Colfescu

BA degree from the Faculty of Arts History, the Nicolae Grigorescu Institute of Fine Arts (nowadays National Art University Bucharest)

Co-founder (1990) and editorial manager of „Vremea” Publishing, Bucharest

Author and illustrator: children’s books, literature, travel book, tourist guides

Translator for French-Romanian, English-Romanian

Selective bibliography

1982 – A Happy Family, Ion Creangă Publishing, Bucharest, republished 1990, Vremea Publishing, text and illustrations

1985 – Romanian Dictionary for Pupils, fine arts department, Didactic and Paedagogic Publishing, republished 1999 Cartier Publishing, Bucharest

1988 – George Topârceanu – Autumn Rhapsodies, Junimea Publishing, Iași, illustrations

1991 – The Cherry Pie, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest, text and illustrations

1992 – The Most Beautiful Stories, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest, illustrations

2000 – Bucharest, Tourist, Artistic, Historical Guide, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2004 – Two Months in Europe, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2009 – Cats from Bucharest – Cats of Bucharest, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2013 – Fabulous Aunts and Other Bucharest Short Stories, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

Translations from French

1992 – Georges Simenon –Maigret’s Revolver, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

1997 – Jacques Sadoul – Story of Modern SF, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

1998 – Charles Perrault – Fairy Tales, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest, reprinted 1999, 2000, 2001  

2007 – Nicolas Werth – Cannibal Island, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2011 – Antoine Vitkine – Mein Kampf. History of a Book, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2013 – Erik Orsenna – On the Paper Road, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

Translations from English

1993 – H.P. Lovecraft – The Thing on the Doorstep, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

1993 – A.E. van Vogt – Dormant, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

1994 – A.E. van Vogt – Mission to the Stars, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

1995 – Ira Levin – This Perfect Day, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2007 – T.J. Macgregor – Out of Sight, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

2008 – James Hadley Chase – I’ll Get You For This, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest

Graphics

1980-1990 – disk covers (design and illustration), Electrecord, Bucharest

1980 – 1990 – book covers (design and illustration), Medical Publishing, Ion Creangă Publishing etc.

1980-2004 – participations in collective exhibitions, painting and illustration

Translated by Simona Nichiteanu