The Humanitas Aqua Forte Foundation and the Humanitas Publishing House announce the short list of nominations for the “Monica Lovinescu” Award 2025 and invite you to the gala dedicated to the award on Wednesday, November 19, at 7:00 p.m., at the Romanian Athenaeum.
The “Monica Lovinescu” award, granted by the “Aqua Forte” Humanitas Foundation, was established in 2023, the year that marked the centenary of the birth of one of the remarkable women of modern Romanian history. Unlike most of the awards currently in existence, which privilege fiction, the “Monica Lovinescu” Award is dedicated to non-fiction books in the humanistic area and to far-reaching intellectual endeavors.
In 2023, the prize was awarded, ex aequoto George Ardeleanu (editor), for the Nicolae Steinhardt Complete Edition, 22 volumes (Editura Polirom, 2021) and Alexandra Furnea, for the volume The Diary of 66. The Night I Burned (Humanitas Publishing House, 2022). In 2024, the prize was awarded to Vlad Russo, for the new translation of Essays to Montaigne (Editura Humanitas, 2021–2023), 50 years after the first complete publication in Romanian; a special prize was awarded to Cristina Cioabă, for the album Monica Lovinescu. A life, a voice, a destiny (Humanitas Publishing House, 2023).
For the third edition of this prize, books published between April 2024 and September 2025 were considered. The prize, worth 10,000 euros, will be awarded at the “Monica Lovinescu” Gala, which will take place at the Romanian Academy, on November 19, from 7 p.m.
The jury is made up of: Alexandru Călinescu, Ioana Pârvulescu (chairman) and Răzvan Purcărea.
Nominations for the “Monica Lovinescu” Award 2025
(short list, in alphabetical order)
1. Octavian Buddha, Thanatos's gaze. Epidemics, wars, assassinations, massacres in six local and global medical historiesPolirom Publishing House, 2024
2. Vitalie Ciobanu, Captive state, mode of use: Republic of Moldova. A subjective chronicleCartier Publishing House, 2024
3. Sabina Fati, Who covets the mouths of the Danube. A wartime journey in the extended Delta: Transnistria, Ukraine, Bessarabia, RomaniaHumanitas Publishing House, 2024
4. Alin Muresan, Clara Mares (coordinators), What is left of all that was. The untold story of Nina MoicaPolirom Publishing House, 2025
5. Georgiana Țăranu, Nicolae Iorga and the seduction of Italian fascismHumanitas Publishing House, 2025
In the evening of November 19, on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, in the musical preface of the event, the pianist George Todicalaureate of the “George Enescu” International Competition, will perform Suite from Partita for violin no. 3, in E major, BWV 1006: 1. Prelude, 2. Gavotte, 3. Gigue by Johann Sebastian Bach, in the transcription of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Impromptu op. 90 no. 3, in G flat major by Franz Schubert, followed by Berceuse, op. 54 no. 10 by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in the transcription of Arcadi Volodos, and Barcarolle, op. 60 by Frédéric Chopin.
In the second part of the event, you will be able to watch the dialogue between Gabriel Liiceanu and Horia-Roman Patapievici with the theme “The Disappointments of Monica Lovinescu”, followed by the awarding of the “Monica Lovinescu” 2025 Award by the president of the jury, Ioana Pârvulescu.
The event will be presented by Marius Constantinescu.
Tickets for the Gala can be purchased on the Eventbook.ro platform:
https://eventbook.ro/other/bilete-gala-premiului-monica-lovinescu-2025?p=169754
Media partnership
