Sunday evening I went to Booktalks, an event organised by Bookblog at the British Council in Bucharest. They invited Ion Manolescu, author of the novel Derapaj, and some cogent discussion ensued. He read a fragment of his book and then took questions. The discussion floated from architecture (how new buildings are destroying the old architecture of Bucharest), to blogs (and why he doesn't have one), to postmodern literature (and why so many people find his novel interesting and why it's sometimes misunderstood), to reaching a wide audience (and why getting a book published abroad takes time, and the importance of book marketing), to writing books (and how he obsessively writes down all his ideas whenever they pop up).

The public obviously loved it, there were lots of questions and debating. Ion Manolescu obviously loved it, he would jump on every question, make a point, and then promptly counter it himself. And although I mostly listened, it was great fun.