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Tăcerea vine prima (Silence comes first)

Tăcerea vine prima vorbeşte despre trauma unei familii contemporane şi despre blocajele de comunicare dintre mai multe generații de femei. Atunci când tăcerea se instalează într-o familie, toate comportamentele sunt creatoare de traume. Singura soluție pare să fie depășirea fricii și deschiderea rănilor.
Subiectul principal îl reprezintă relația complicată a Dorei, pe de o parte cu mama sa intruzivă și veșnic nemulțumită, pe de altă parte cu fiica adolescentă care începe să-și ceară dreptul la independență. Crescută într-o familie în care femeile și bărbații au fost dintotdeauna într-un raport de forță, copiii au acoperit goluri și dureri, fericirea personală n-a părut necesară, mamele au îmbătrânit urât, iar tații, în tăcere, Dora preferă fantasma realității. Într-un moment de curaj, ea intră într-o relație online cu Toma. Totuși, chiar și după ce ajunge la Braşov, acolo unde locuieşte bărbatul, spaima de a nu fi dezamăgită o face să se întoarcă acasă, fără ca întâlnirea să aibă loc. Când însă, Toma vine în București și o sună, Dora este nevoită să ia o decizie. Nu înainte de a rupe tăcerea şi a da cărţile pe faţă, într-o discuţie cu mama ei.

“Silence Comes First" explores the trauma within a contemporary family and the communication barriers between multiple generations of women. When silence takes root in a family, every behavior becomes a source of trauma. The only solution seems to be overcoming fear and confronting old wounds.
The central theme is on one hand Dora's complicated relationship with her intrusive and perpetually dissatisfied mother, and on the other the dynamic with her teenage daughter, who is beginning to assert her right to independence. Raised in a family where women and men were always engaged in a power struggle, where children filled voids and covered up pain, Dora searches for an escape. After a childhood where personal happiness seemed unnecessary, where mothers aged poorly, and fathers remained silent, Dora prefers the fantasy over reality. In a moment of courage, she enters an online relationship with Toma. However, even after she travels to Brașov, where Toma lives, her fear of disappointment drives her to return home without meeting him. But when Toma comes to Bucharest and calls her, Dora is forced to make a decision. However, she can only do that after breaking the silence and laying all the cards on the table in a conversation with her mother.

Written in Romanian by Ioana Maria Stăncescu
9 minutes read

In The End (Koniec)

Metaphysical and blasphemous novel about the tragedy of war that never meets a clean end with a peace treaty. The war goes on, residing within its victims who carry it from one generation to the next.

Malwina, an exceptionally sensitive girl, experiences her grandmother’s wartime memories in her dreams. This makes her exist in two parallel realities at once: the 1940s Eastern borderlands and Siberia along the 1990s Poland. Those realities seep and bleed through one another, making Malwina a catcher of her survivor grandmother’s dreams, or perhaps a dybbuk who gives voice to the dead. To Malwina, the war persists, haunting her day and night alike. Poignant and piercing, Koniec is an impressively well-crafted prose.

Written in Polish by Marta Hermanowicz
10 minutes read

Flitsen

Translated from Italian to Dutch by Sandra Verhulst
Written in Italian by Sara Micello
8 minutes read

la città in frantumi

Translated from Dutch to Italian by Jessica Rostro Benigno
Written in Dutch by Hanan Faour
8 minutes read

Žive ograde

Translated from Polish to Serbian by Milica Kozić
Written in Polish by Maria Karpińska
10 minutes read

De Heggen

Translated from Polish to Dutch by Małgosia Briefjes
Written in Polish by Maria Karpińska
12 minutes read

De reünie

Translated from Romanian to Dutch by Charlotte van Rooden
Written in Romanian by Alexandru Potcoavă
11 minutes read

Dingenzoeker: 44 (on)gewone objecten van dichtbij en veraf

Verhalen over verrassende vondsten uit de hele wereld: laarzen uit Bhutan, stoeptegels uit Barcelona naar ontwerp van Gaudí, wijnglazen uit Baskenland, een broche uit Sarajevo, espadrilles uit de Pyreneeën, scarabeeën uit het oude Egypte, een doos met afval uit New York, een kaart van Oost-Berlijn, en nog veel meer. Ekaterina Petrova vertelt over de plaatsen waar ze vandaan komen en geeft ze een bredere culturele, historische en antropologische context. Haar persoonlijke ervaringen als reiziger, vertaler en non-fictieschrijver klinken er steevast in door. De vormgeving, door een van Bulgarijes opmerkelijkste hedendaagse illustratoren, geeft op prachtige en humoristische wijze de sfeer van de teksten weer. Een boek om te lezen en te herlezen, om te hebben en om weg te geven.

Translated from Bulgarian to Dutch by Justin Van Heddegem
Written in Bulgarian by Ekaterina Petrova
9 minutes read

Strážných

Translated from Spanish to Czech by Markéta Cubrová
Written in Spanish by Kike Cherta
7 minutes read

Prvo dolazi ćutanje

Translated from Romanian to Serbian by Mirela Belada
Written in Romanian by Ioana Maria Stăncescu
8 minutes read

Přibližně v ten samý okamžik mě pohltilo město

Translated from Ukranian to Czech by Adéla Mikešová
Written in Ukranian by Anastasia Levkova
8 minutes read

Constantin

Translated from Romanian to Spanish by Borja Mozo
Written in Romanian by Iulian Bocai
10 minutes read

Constantin. Een portret

Translated from Romanian to Dutch by Charlotte van Rooden
Written in Romanian by Iulian Bocai
11 minutes read

El silencio es lo primero

Translated from Romanian to Spanish by Borja Mozo
Written in Romanian by Ioana Maria Stăncescu
9 minutes read

місто з уламків скла / розбите місто

Translated from Dutch to Ukranian by Larysa Dobra
Written in Dutch by Hanan Faour
7 minutes read

Questo sangue masticato

In his debut novel, Francesco Aloia comes to terms with the past and his family, keeping his grandmother Ada's teachings firmly in mind. After leaving home and finding his own path, he returns to the places of his childhood during a summer and confronts a particularly "overbearing" grandfather, Tanino 'e Bastimento, a man of honor who, after a couple of murders and many years in prison, after challenging a Camorra boss, now must face one final duel "in absentia"—this time with his grandson.

Written in Italian by Francesco Aloia
10 minutes read

Iskar: 44 (ne)navadnih predmetov od blizu in daleč

Kot namiguje podnaslov, knjiga Iskar vsebuje zgodbe o 44 predmetih od blizu in daleč. Radovedna in raznolika zbirka, urejena po tematikah, vključuje presenetljive najdbe z vsega sveta: škornje iz Butana, tlakovce z Gaudijevim vzorcem iz Barcelone, kozarce za vino iz Baskije, broško v obliki srca iz Sarajeva, espadrile iz Pirenejev, skarabeje iz starega Egipta, škatlo smeti iz New Yorka, kos oranžne tkanine s plavajočih pomolov na jezeru Iseo, slovenskega rjovečega zmaja, zemljevid vzhodnega Berlina in še mnogo več.

Ko Ekaterina Petrova pripoveduje zgodbe o teh predmetih, pravzaprav pripoveduje tudi o krajih, od koder prihajajo – Kustendorf in Katmandu, Ljubljana in Louisiana, Belvedere in Bilbao, Selçuk in Centralni park –, ter jih umešča v širši jezikovni, kulturni, zgodovinski, antropološki ali geografski kontekst. Umetelna mešanica potopisov, esejev in zgodb je skrbno raziskana in podkrepljena z zanimivimi dejstvi, vendar prežeta s subjektivnim pogledom avtorice in njeno osebno biografijo popotnice, prevajalke in iskarke.

Oblikovanje in podoba knjige, ki jo je ustvarila Ljuba Haleva, ena najvidnejših sodobnih bolgarskih ilustratork, dobro in s smislom za humor pričara duh zgodb. Tako tudi sama knjiga postane čudovit predmet, ki prinaša užitek in veselje – za branje in ponovno branje, za posedovanje in obdarovanje.

Translated from Bulgarian to Slovenian by Maja Kovač
Written in Bulgarian by Ekaterina Petrova
8 minutes read

Ciężka woda

Translated from Slovenian to Polish by Aleksandra Wójcik
Written in Slovenian by Pia Prezelj
8 minutes read

Коридор (Peninsula)

Translated from Dutch to Bulgarian by Elissaveta Manolova Maciel
Written in Dutch by Lieven Stoefs
7 minutes read

Een paar verdwaalde minuten

Translated from Romanian to Dutch by Charlotte van Rooden
Written in Romanian by Cristina Vremes
10 minutes read
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