On September 25-29, 2006 Romania hosts the 11th Summit of the International Organization of the Francophonie

NINE O'CLOCK - The list of participants to the Francophonie Summit is closed
35 heads of states and governments and 37 foreign ministers come to Bucharest

published in issue 3774 page 3 at 2006-09-26

The list of participants to the Francophonie Summit organised during September 27-29 was closed, the event being attended by 35 heads of states and governments, the secretary of state for Francophonie, Cristian Preda said yesterday. Also 37 foreign ministers from the Francophone countries will attend today the Ministerial Council of Francophonie (CMF), the body that will prepare the documents to be adopted during the meeting of the heads of the states and governments. An absolute first is also the accrediting at the Summit of 950 journalists - 500 Romanian and 450 foreign.

The International Organisation of Francophonie has 53 members with the status of permanent members, plus ten countries with the status of observer: Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia, and four with the status of associate - Albania, Andorra, Greece, Macedonia.

The Permanent Council of Francophonie (CPF), which met yesterday at the Parliament Palace , adopted a draft resolution regarding the use of the French language in the international organisations, a document to be adopted by the heads of states present at the Summit from September 27-29. The document reads that the countries where the national or official language is not French, among which Romania , commit themselves to privilege at the international meetings the use of the French language, if it is not possible, for technical reasons, to use the national language.

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NINE O'CLOCK - Exhibition of stamps from Francophone countries

published in issue 3774 page 12 at 2006-09-26

Bucharest – Stamp collectors, but also the lovers of the Francophone culture will be able to visit, until September 29, the exhibition “The Francophonie through its stamps,” organised within the programme “ Bucharest Francophone,” whose opening took place on Sunday morning, in the foyer of the Museum of Bucharest Municipality from Sutu Palace .

The opening of the exhibition, which gathers stamp collections from over 20 countries members of the International Organisation of the Francophonie (IOF), was attended by the secretary general of IOF, Abdou Diouf, who showed his content regarding the quality of exhibited pieces: “Post stamp is the emblem of a country, it presents an image, an event, a cultural tradition, an object significant for that nation”, said the secretary general. Also, Abdou Diouf appreciated the idea of the Bucharest Francophone programme and expressed his surprise towards the multitude of cultural events that will be organised in the Capital City this week.

The visitors of the exhibition will have the chance to see stamps from France and Romania , but also from exotic countries such as Haiti , Guinea , Djibouti or Gabon . Through the collections displayed at Sutu Palace , one could discover exotic animals, extraordinary landscapes from the jungle, deserts, forests, plain or cities with skyscrapers.

At the same time, the passionate collectors have the opportunity to meet, to present their rare collection and to exchange with the foreign collectors from the Francophone countries. The exhibition can be visited between 11 AM and 7 PM , and Sutu Palace is placed downtown the Capital City , at Universitatii Square .

Ananda Devi – takes the Award of the five continents to Mauritius Island

The 2006 edition of the Award of the five continents, dedicated to literary works in French, was given on Sunday evening, at the National Theatre of Bucharest, to writer Ananda Devi, from Mauritius Islands. Ananda Devi received this distinction for her novel “Eve de ses decombres,” published by the Parisian publishing house Gallimard. The award was handed in by Abdou Diouf, secretary general of the Francophonie.

Also, a special prize was given to Pierre Yergeau from Canada-Quebec, for the novel “La Cite des vents,” published by L'Instant. The international jury of the Award of the five continents was presided by Henri Lopes (Congo), and made up of Lise Bissonnette (Canada-Quebec), Monique Ilboudo (Burkina Faso), Paula Jacques (Egypt), Venus Khoury-Ghata (Lebanon), Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (Mauritius Islands), Andrei Makine (Russia), Rene de Obaldia (Hong Kong), Leila Sebbar (Algeria), Denis Tillinac (France), Lyonel Trouillot (Haiti) and Alain Mabanckou (Congo).

by Alex Elias

http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=culture&id=20060926-503608

NINE O'CLOCK - French book exhibition at Dalles

The event gathers the most important titles and authors of the moment within the French-speaking area.

published in issue 3773 page 12 at 2006-09-25

Bucharest – The important exhibition of French book was inaugurated at Dalles Hall during this weekend, called in a very suggestive manner “Yesterday and today French-speaking area literature”. The event will last until September 30 and it is intended to be a meeting place of literature amateurs, of those who are fans of French language but also for those willing to discover the diversity of the French literary creation.

The event benefits from two important components: on one side, the three displays presented in Quebec , Morocco and Greece , which were aimed at particularly displaying the editorial productions. On the other side, an important stand decorated by XPO NOI, purchased from Paris , will represent the whole French speaking space by means of various art albums, literary creations, guides on and from French-speaking countries.

An absolute premiere in Romania is the presence, at Dalles Hall, of the writers from the French part of Africa , largely published by the prestigious Parisian editing house Seuil: Leopold S. Senghor, Alain Mabanckou, Marcel Zang or Sony Labou Tansi. Cameroon is represented by Calixthe Beyala, with Femme neue, femme noire and Les Arbres en parlent encore, a special version of Africa seen through the eyes of a woman – writer, and Egypt by Yasmine Khlat (with Le desespoir est un peche), who is also a holder of Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie. Another section featured within the exhibition of French books is the one dedicated to Romanian writers published in France . We remind here the classic triad Cioran – Eliade – Ionesco, and then Theater by I. L. Caragiale (L'Arche), Mircea Cartarescu with Orbitor, Gabriela Adamesteanu, with Une matinee perdue and Petru Dumitriu with L'homme aux yeaux gris. Canada – Quebec is represented by writers Anne Hebert – Un habit de lumiere, Gaetna Soucy – Music – Hall!, Marie-Claire Blais – Dans la foudre et la lumiere, Belgium by the woman writer Ariane Le Fort – Beau Fils, Lebanon is represented by writers Dominique Edde and Charif Majdalani, Albania by Izmail Kadare. Also, the choice of titles within Milan Kundera series include the last short novels, written in French by the Czech author: La lenteur – L'identite-L'ignorance and volume that have not been yet translated into Romanian – Jacques et son maitre, L'art du roman, Le rideau, Les testaments trahis. Another Czech writer featured within the exhibition is Jiri Kratochvil.

Georgia is represented by writer Salome Zourabichvili, Russia by Andrei Makine, with Requiem pour L'est, La fille d'un hero de l'Union Sovietique, Irene Nemirovski with Suite francaise and Mikhail Chichkine with La Prise d'Izmail, and Hungary, with Imre Kertesz with Le chercheur de traces, Milo Dor with La Ville blanche and Agota Kristof with C'est egal.

France, in its turn, is represented by writers Marcel Moreau – La view de Jeju, Yasmina Reza – Theatre. L'homme du hasard, Pascal Quignard – Villa Amalia, Pascal Bruckner – L'euphorie perpetuelle, La tentation de l'innocence, Michel Tournier – Eleazar ou la source et la buisson, Le Tabor et le Sinai, Michel Onfray – Theorie du corps amoureaux, Le chistianisme hedoniste.

by Alex Elias

http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=culture&id=20060924-503601