Writing in ... Romania

       At presseurop Ovidiu Pecican's Local literature on its last legs (Romanian original at România libera) paints a pretty dire picture of the situation in Romania -- starting with the fact that:

in 2011, there were far fewer books sold in Romania (total sales of €60m) than there were in neighbouring Hungary (total sales of €180m), which has a smaller population.

       (I prefer unit-sales comparisons to sales value ones (after all, books might be three times as expensive in Hungary ...), but the difference is big enough to be of concern regardless.)
       He also suggests:

It is high time that someone once again took a stand to say that "translations do not make a literary culture," and that they cannot and should not be substituted for freely undertaken original production in the language of this country and in the name of an ethos, which is ours alone. It is once again time -- even if it is tiresome to repeat history -- for a Mihail Kogălniceanu [the 19th Century liberal politician, prime minister and cultural figure] to speak out against writing that comes to us from Potomac, St Petersburg or Tokyo

       Pecican suggests that one: "need look no further than the percentage of editorial production in this country which is actually devoted to Romanian books" -- suggesting it's minimal, though, alas, without offering any hard (or soft or even anecdotal) numbers.
       It's a tough balance -- between supporting local culture (good !) and xenophobic nationalism (not so great ...). Of course greater appreciation/acknowledgement of Romanian literature abroad (and more translations !) would probably help, too ......