FESTIVAL OF OPEN BOOKS – “Books come to life” between March 6 – 22, 2026 at the Comic Opera for Children

Access to the OCC Garden is free throughout the festival. Book launches, reading performances, meetings with authors and most interactive workshops are free. The attractions in the play area (the Train, the Carousel, the Magic Wheel, the Unicorn Museum, Aventura Park, etc.) can be accessed based on the OCC Card (3 lei for the physical card, loaded with tickets, 1 ticket = 3 lei). Some events require prior registration, indicated in the program.

OCC also organizes a book donation campaign together with the “Give a Fairytale World!” Association, through which visitors can bring books for children from vulnerable backgrounds.

Program: Friday 16:00–20:00

Saturday–Sunday 10:00–20:00

Address: Calea Giulești no. 16, Bucharest

Information: operacomica.ro/festival/festivalul-cartilor-deschise/

@occfestival (Facebook & Instagram)

The first weekend opens the festival with a selection of workshops, readings and meetings with well-known authors and artists.

Friday, March 6

The festival debuts on Friday afternoon with the workshop “My story room”, supported by the architect Vasile–Valentin Drăgănescu, which introduces children to the world of interior design and architecture. Also on Friday, Alina and Cristian Ion bring to Casa Carții the workshop “Pic from the land of dreams and the game of intelligences and values” (Talent Club), and in the evening VoiceUpKids proposes a workshop of public speaking for children: “How to speak clearly and confidently?”, supported by Emanuel Popescu.

Saturday, March 7

Saturday offers an extended program all day. The morning starts with the “Miko” workshop of the Trei Publishing House (Andreea Iatagan) and the “Games, Play and Connecting in the Family” series from Funlandia. At 12:00, soprano Felicia Filip opens the “Artists read stories” format on the Căsuța din Copac Stage – one of the most anticipated moments of the festival, in which invited personalities read from the favorite book of their childhood. Next is the meeting with the writer Ioana Pârvulescu and the director Claudia Ciobanu, dedicated to the musical “Invizibilii”. The reading series continues with Denisa Nicolae, Liviu Romanescu and Adrian Nour. The afternoon also includes Mornin' Poets Junior with Ovidiu Baron – “Antologeek I & II. How we discover our passions through poetry” – and English Kids Academy workshops.

Sunday, March 8

Sunday begins early with the workshops of the InfinitEdu Association dedicated to understanding the text, both for children (groups 6–10 years and 9–14 years) and for parents (coordinated by Melania Țucureanu and Eryka Lang). The top event of the day is the Parade of Book Characters by Nemira (11:00 a.m.): children are invited to come dressed as their favorite character and compete for prizes provided by Nemira Publishing House and OCC. In the afternoon, the Oratory and Debate Workshops (Mădălin Guruianu) propose a session on “Jonathan Seagull”, and the Curtea Veche Publishing House presents the book “Fire Dragonfly” by Paul George Sandu, with the actress Mădălina Mușat as a special guest.

The second weekend picks up the pace with a book launch, an animation show and a wider variety of workshops and author meetings.

Friday, March 13

On Friday, the two recurring workshops continue: “My story room” (arch. Vasile–Valentin Drăgănescu) and “Pic from the land of dreams” (Talent Club), preparing the public for the weekend that begins.

Saturday, March 14

One of the richest days of the festival / the morning brings simultaneously – the reading and illustration workshop “Cameleonul Cami la cofetărie” (Arthur Publishing House, with Luminița Corneanu and Andrei Damian), the PanDa anniversary workshop of Trei Publishing House (Ruxandra Georgescu) and the Funlandia workshop. At 11:30 the book “Constantin Brâncusi and the column in the air” by Alina Bâltâc, from the Romanian Success Collection of the Corinth Publishing House, will be launched, moderated by Ioana Revnic. The “Artists read stories” format continues with Irina Velcescu (11:30), Aura Corbeanu (14:00) and Andrea Gavriliu (14:15). Mornin' Poets Junior returns with “Sebastian in a dream. The parent-child relationship”, in the presence of the poet Radu Vancu. The evening holds two special moments: the show “Țup — IMPOSSIBLE is just a word” of the Independent Center for the Art of Animation (18:00) and the meeting with the author Alex Donovici, the creator of the Țup series (Editura Curtea Veche, 19:00). The Calligraphy workshop signed by Schneiderpen.ro completes the offer of the day.

Sunday, March 15

Sunday is largely devoted to understanding the text and exploring the illustration. InfinitEdu offers parallel workshops for children and parents throughout the day. At 12:00, Octav & Delia Ungureanu (Arthur Publishing House) support the “Club miniGraphic” comics workshop, and “Club curioșilor” with Alina Negoiță and Irina Hărătău animate the Căsuța din Copac Stage. A unique moment is the workshop “Discover with Nezumi the manga universe in Romanian”, proposed by Nemira Publishing House, with translator Mălina Coșan and editor Andreea Roșeț.

Weekend 3: 20 – 22 March 2026

The last weekend of the festival brings new book releases, poetic moments and a finale that celebrates the diversity of the literary world.

Friday, March 20

Finals Friday continues the recurring workshop series: “My Story Room” and “Pic from Dreamland” opening the finals weekend.

Saturday, March 21

The day brings two book releases: “Funny Animals for Children” by Alec Blenche (Univers Publishing House) and “Caietele car scri povesti”, the new collection of Aperta school notebooks. The morning includes the reading and illustration workshop with Rucsandra Enache (Editura Trei) and the “Artists read stories” series with Ana Bianca Popescu. Mornin' Poets Junior ends the series with “Lucas' book. This is the world our children will live in”, with guest Irina Georgescu. In the afternoon, English Kids Academy returns with both of the festival's workshops, and in the evening brings the imagination workshop “But Motan dreams” by Nemira Publishers, with Cristina Andone.

Sunday, March 22 – Closing Day

The last day of the festival brings together all the formats that defined the 2026 edition. InfinitEdu proposes a last round of workshops dedicated to active reading. The “Club of the curious” and the reading and illustration workshop “Unicorn Party” (Adela Maria Calistru, Arthur Publishing House) enliven the morning. The “Artists read stories” series ends with Daniel Nuță. The afternoon has three book presentations: “Tărâmul Poveștilor itate” and “Adina si Regina Măsura” by Bianca Partenie (Univers Publishing House), “George Enescu and the road to music” (Once upon a time) and “True stories from the ancestors” by Daniela Nane and Elena Nane. Also on Sunday, Crina Carp from PLANNOR proposes the interactive workshop “Dream of flying”.

Editorial partners: Arthur Publishing House | Corinth Publishing House | Curtea Veche Publishing House | Gama publishing house | Nemira Publishing House | Sofiami Publishing House | Trei Publishing House | Univers Publishing House

Cultural and educational partners: Bookster | Morning Poets Junior | Schneiderpen.ro | Aperta | Once upon a time English Kids Academy | PLANNER | VoiceUpKids | Funland | The book market

National campaign “Fitness for children's minds”: Digital Nation | Bosch Foundation Romania | InfinitEdu Association | The SMART generation

The Open Book Festival is part of the national campaign “Fitness for Children's Minds”released on February 4, 2026, International Read Together Day. The initiative brings together three non-governmental organizations, together with 10 publishing houses, bookstores, Opera Comică pentru Copii and dozens of educational and media partners, in one of the largest initiatives dedicated to promoting reading and training children's thinking in Romania. The campaign runs from February 4 to March 15, 2026 and is expected to engage more than 1,000 teachers and 1,000 parents, as well as accumulate more than one million minutes of read-alouds. Full details and the list of free activities are available on the platform dedicated to the campaign: generatiasmart.ro/FitnessPentruMinte.

Opera Comică pentru Copii is a public cultural institution subordinated to the Capital City Hall and the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, led since 2014 by the soprano Felicia Filip. Unique in the world due to the audience segment it addresses, Opera Comică pentru Copii brings children closer to art and culture, both through quality shows – opera, ballet, musical, concert-lesson, operetta, musical theater – and through various related innovative projects such as summer and winter festivals, “Little Artist” Workshops, “OCC Store”, “Behind the Curtain” Tours, “Birthday Parties”, “Aventura Park” or “Volunteering”. More information on operacomica.ro.

Media partnership