On Saturday, 23 March 2024, we had a special event: meeting with Jan Willem Bos,
author and translator and one of the most important promoters of Romanian literature and culture in
The Netherlands. The event, entitled "The Author as a Translator. The Story of a Dutch Writer
Who Fell in Love With Romanian Literature", celebrated the work of Jan Willem Bos, and was
organised in collaboration with Embassy of Romania to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Cultural Institute
Romanian Brussels.
The meeting took place at OBA Javaplein, OBA's newest location, which opened last year with a
modern and attractive interior design in an intimate and welcoming space.
We were honoured by the presence of His Excellency the Ambassador of Romania to the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
Lucian Fătu, diplomatic adviser Alexandru-Ion Steriu and the director of the ICR Brussels
Corina Panaitopol.
The highlight of the event was a series of four messages to Jan Willem Bos recorded by the author
Mircea Cărtărescu, Honorary Consul of Romania to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Andrea Teunissen and
translators Irina Anton Vasilachi and Charlotte van Rooden.
There followed a discussion between Jan Willem Bos and Maria Dicieanu, BiebRO coordinator, about the volume
autobiographical book "From the Rhine to the Danube and back", published by Humanitas in 2022. It was
interesting to find out how the idea for this book, which describes the writer's relationship with Romania and
how it has shaped his personal and professional life. Jan Willem has a special style of storytelling
- we like to think it's a bit Romanian in style, with humour, honesty and detailed descriptions
(different from the Dutch style, more abrupt and practical).
After a short break during which we indulged in goodies from Marcel's shop, followed by a panel of
discussion about translations from Romanian into Dutch and vice versa. Callina Oșlobanu joined the discussion,
translator from Dutch into Romanian, known for her translation of the novel "Evening restlessness" by
Marieke Lucas Rijnveld, and Susan van Oostveen, Director Pegasus publishing house, the publisher with the most
many translations of works by Romanian authors in the Benelux. The subject of attempts to
through which the works of Eastern European authors, and in particular the works of Romanian authors, pass in order to
become available to the Dutch public, and some ideas were discussed to promote these works.
Guests had the opportunity to ask questions, launching extremely interesting discussions on the role of
translators, the difficulties they encounter in their work, and the relationship with the intelligence
artificial.
Both Jan Willem's fascinating autobiography (if you missed it in
library, you can still order it by emailing books@rompro.nl) as well as a number of titles from the
Pegasus.
The Romanian Library of the Netherlands is currently running a fundraising campaign in order to
purchase books in Dutch for the OBA Oosterdok collection. If you would like to support
this initiative, please make a donation here specifying "BiebRO Dutch translations".
