According to the executive director of the fair, Vladimir Epstein, the event did not fall short of the organisers’ expectations: “The fact that we had 110,000 visitors in the five days of the fair is for us, organisers, and for Radio Romania an immense success. We owe this success, of course, to the publishers, the true heroes of our times.”

Epstein said most of the exhibitors were satisfied with how the fair was organised, the contacts they established and the sales they had. Italy’s participation in the fair as an honorary guest country was the high point of a series of cultural events to promote Italian culture and language in Romania as part of the 150th anniversary of the union of all Italian provinces in one state.

Vladimir Epstein says choosing Italy as the guest country this year was a good initiative, given the participation in the fair, for the first time, of 34 of the most important Italian publishing houses. The honorary president of the fair was Luciano de Crescenzo, a leading cultural figure in Italy and author of 30 volumes translated into several languages, and whose activity also includes acting and film directing. France, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Gallimard publishing house, one of the most important in the world, was also represented at the Gaudeamus fair this year. Publishers from Belgium, Greece and Spain also participated.

On Sunday, the last day of the fair, Radio Romania handed the Gaudeamus awards. The book by Neagu Djuvara entitled “Raspuns criticilor mei si neprietenilor lui Negru Voda” (In Response to My Critics and the Foes of Negru Voda) received the award for the best selling book at the fair. The Vinea publishing house received the award for excellence, for its involvement in the promotion of Romanian literature abroad. The Romanian-born French poet, essayist and journalist Dinu Flamand received the translation award for his translation from Portuguese of Fernando Pessoa’s poetry. Humanitas, Rao and Nemira were also among the publishers that received an award. Gaudeamus 2011 also saw the launch of a project entitled Booktopia, which is the first integrated social network for passionate readers in Romania.