Our Festival runs every other year, and we look forward to seeing you next year, 3-6 September 2026.

We recently shared the news that we have changed the name of the festival to the Transylvanian Arts Festival. However, please be reassured that the quality does not change, only the sudden realisation that the Book Festival, held in Richis since 2013, has aways been about so much more than books. It is writing certainly – poetry, prose, politics and history; but with dollops of music and food and wine and landscape and friendships and wonderful villages, set in the Tarnava Valley, Transylvania.

The festival in 2026 will offer the same rich mix with Nick Thorpe, BBC correspondent Central Europe, on his Walking through the World’s Last Wilderness, Richard Basset on Maria Teresa and Transylvania, Dr. John Ackeroyd on this remarkable country’s wildflowers, and Nicolai de Romania speaks of his grandfather, King Michael.

The royal theme continues with Dr. Shona Kallestrup on the flower paintings of Queen Marie and Dr. Natalie Gutgesell on Queen Marie in Coburg. The Queen’s dream palace at Pelisor, where her heart now rests, will be discussed by Dr. Macrina Oproiu. Queen Elisabeth, the first queen of Romania, comes out of the shadows as Carmen Sylva. Her poems set to music by the likes of Enescu. Music will continue in the church in Richis against the stunning, newly-revealed Last Judgement of the turn of the 16^th century. As usual, all with good company, food and wine.

We hope you’ll join us on what will be another fantastic event.

Draft Programme 2026

Thursday 3^rd September

Party at 24 Richis for speakers and guests

Dinner at Priest House to follow

Return to villages

Friday 4^th September

09.30 Registration and coffee

10.00 Welcome by Lucy Abel Smith

10.10 Nick Thorpe – ‘How wild was my wilderness?’

11.00 Coffee and introduction to book shop and viewing of the Last Judgement in the church. Led by Lucy Abel Smith and Lorand Kiss

11.45 Richard Basset – Maria Theresa’s Eastern Question: Transylvania, Galicia and the Bukovina

12.15 Maria Pakucs Towns between Empires

Lunch with Lavinia Schuster in Mosna
Lavinia and her late husband, Willy, have long been active with organic farming.

Return to Richis

16.00 Christopher Bartholomew – Utah-Bucharest-Calcutta. An accidental journey in search of Mircea Eliade

16.45 Professor Martyn Rady – Other Woods and Other Waters: Historic Transylvania’s Eastern and Balkan Neighbours’, ie a run-through of Wallachia, Moldavia, Bukovina, the Ottomans pashaliks, and what is now bits of Ukraine, showing how stable Transylvania was in this part of Europe

18.00 Leave for drinks and dinner with Giovanna and Paolo Bassetti, by kind invitation

21.00 Transfers back to the villages

Saturday 5^th September

09.30 Coffee and gathering at the priest House, Richis and leave for Somartin (90 mins)

11.00 Arrive for bell ringing and fizz on Somartin

Introduction and welcome by Jochen Kusch and Mariana Moore. They have restored centre of village most famously the wonderful village hall by Fritz Balthes.

11.45 In Somartin Dr. Gerhild Rudolf which speak on Fritz Balthes.

Dr. Dakian Muntean: Baron Nopcsa remarkable adventurer, Albanian Scholar, travel writer and spy

12.30 Lunch

Walk around the village

Return to Richis (approx. 90 mins)

18.00 Tony Scotland – Shadows – Behind the Iron Curtain tbc
who will then introduce the choir of Agnita (Tony was a familiar voice on BBC 3)

Dinner Priest House Richis

Return to hotels.

Sunday 6^th  September

10.00 Dr. Shona Kallestrup – Floral Conversation: the flower paintings of Queen Marie and the Transylvania Florilegium

10.45 Coffee

11.15 Dr. Natalie Gutgesell 200 Years of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and their European networks

12.00 Dr. Macrina Oproiu – Queen Marie and her dream house, Castle Pelisor

12.45 Lunch Richis

16.00 Dr. John Ackeroyd – Romania’s remarkable heritage of wildflowers

16.45 Nicholas of Romania – My Grandfather: King Michael

18.30 Aris Alexander Blettenberg, (Munich) and Vera Maria Bitter (Salzburg) – Concert of the poems of Carmen Sylva set to music commissioned by the Queen

Dinner in Richis as suggested in a cookery demonstration by Irina Georgescu

Return to hotels.

The original Transylvanian Book Festival was founded by Lucy Abel Smith in 2013 to celebrate the cultural wealth of this region and to celebrate its history, literature, architecture and ethnic diversity. Now known as the Transylvanian Arts Festival, it is set amidst the villages and foothills of Transylvania and is unique in Romania.

Surrounded by beech and oak forests and the tranquillity of this great medieval landscape – the last in Europe, speakers and audiences will have unrivalled opportunity for discussions and discoveries among the beautiful ancient Saxon villages of Copsa Mare, Biertan and Richis, the latter of which will host the Festival. All three villages are linked by a narrow road along the valley with gently rolling hills, terraced for vines, rising on either side. It is within these villages that guests stay during the festival, and shuttles will provide transport for those who do not wish to walk.

Become a Patron, Friend or Volunteer

We offer many interesting opportunities for sponsors, including

• logos at events and on our website and in our festival programm
• Printed material from sponsors displayed at key points in festival
• Potential to sponsor individual lectures and events
• Discount rate for staff
• Free tickets, VIP access and reserved seating
• Corporate social responsibility – the festival has an outreach programme for the local community and schools
• Media – coverage and promotion of the festival in broadcast, print media, social media and online
• Broad range of sponsorship opportunities
• Social Media; programme distributed in UK, Romania and US; high profile fundraising and associated events in UK and Romania.

To discuss further sponsorship options and benefits available, and for more details about the festival, please contact us.