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We Read

Your space to read, create and connect.

Drawing stories.
Storytelling workshop with Maria and Ileana Surducan

October 2020, Online

*Maria and Ileana Surducan are two talented sisters living in Cluj, passionate about illustrated storytelling. They created, together and individually, an impressive number of comics and graphic novels (published in Romanian, French and English).
Their multi-disciplinary work often refers to traditional Romanian folktales, but in a modern and lively way.

Authors Maria and Ileana Surducan* read from "Vacanta lui Nor / Nor's holiday", the delightful story of a boy spending the summer holiday in a remote village with his grandparents. What seemed to be a disaster turns into a magical adventure, with Nor exploring the natural surroundings together with his two new friends – Skai and Laci.

The children were happy to (virtually) meet Nor and very engaged in doing a live interactive drawing session with Ileana and Maria. We talked about comic books and how images can create fascinating stories, and then the participants had a go at drawing their heroes-characters and imagined their super-powers.

Watch here a condensed video of the workshop: link to follow

This event was part of Romania Rocks, the first Romanian British Literature Festival, organised by RCI London.

Link to the programme/festival's brochure:

Meet the Author. History for Kids with Simona Antonescu

October 2020, Online

The acclaimed writer Simona Antonescu*, who is passionate about transforming history into literature, for adults and children alike, introduced the participants to Ilinca and Calin. These lucky twins magically travel to forgotten places and meet remarkable characters from Romanian history.

During this (online) workshop, we (re)discovered significant leaders like Decebal, Menumorut or, closer to our times, Queen Maria and King Mihai, and we also found out about the craft of turning historical facts into stories. One thing to remember – unique ancient words play a special role!

*Simona Antonescu studied Chemistry at university in Bucharest, but literature was always her passion. She started writing later in life, and her first novel "Fotograful Curtii Regale" (2015) won several important awards. Other three successful books quickly followed it, and she also started a beautiful collaboration with Nemi on a History for Kids series. More about this project:

Watch here a condensed video of the workshop: link to follow

This event was part of Romania Rocks, the first Romanian British Literature Festival, organised by RCI London.

Link to the programme/festival's brochure:

Connecting Worlds. Storytelling workshop with Iulia Iordan

June 2020, Online

On the first (online) workshop of the project "Library on Stage", Iulia Iordan*, talented writer and passionate storyteller, invited the children into a magical Kamishibai adventure, to explore and create new worlds.

The participants presented their favourite books and discussed how we could make stories come to life, after watching Iulia narrating The Legend of the Fir Tree. In the final part, architect Alex Axinte showed us some examples of community libraries where children were involved in the design process and asked everyone to share ideas about how the library room at RCI London could/should look. Some shelves with edible books, cosy nooks for reading, a playful garden, a giant aquarium and a dressing-up chest – imagination unlocked!

*Iulia Iordan studied Philosophy and History of Art and specialised in working with children, first in museums, and then in various other cultural settings, as creative coordinator of the Association "Da' De Ce". She is also an awarded children's author and co-founded with other Romanian writers the Association "De Basm". More info about her projects: