For the first time, Russia will host the Children’s Book Festival

MOSCOW. From November 1 to 3, the Russian State Children’s Library will host the Children’s Book Festival. The concept of the festival is absolutely original: the organizers plan on an equal footing to gather all those involved in the creation of a children’s book. Writers, publishers, editors, artists, critics, teachers, librarians and readers will gather around the best children’s books published over the past few years in more than 50 Russian publishing houses.

The selection of the best children’s books was carried out by seven experts and one book-selling organization, Bumper. The authors of these books are invited to the event, in addition, the publishers will organize a large program of book presentations. The festival program is very rich - entertaining games around books, master classes from famous writers, illustrators and critics, a conference will be held at which participants will listen to feedback from students of Moscow schools about books read from the recommended list. Also, laureates of literary prizes from Minsk, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and other cities of Russia will take part in the festival.

Everything that is built around the children’s book will be involved in the festival program - it’s musical performances, theater, cinema and cartoons. Actors in Moscow theaters will read poems and short stories by contemporary authors. A photo exhibition "Faces of children’s literature" will be organized for guests, which is an art portrait of little writers. The issues of the children’s book will be discussed at two round tables - at the first, the question of book illustration will be examined, and the second will be devoted to the boundaries of children and adults in modern literature. Also, a leading expert in the field of book illustration, Lidia Kudryavtseva, will give a lecture “What is a beautiful children’s book”.

According to the organizers, the festival of children’s books in Russia has not yet been held on such a large scale. More than 60 children’s writers take part in the festival, about 70 events are expected, dozens of artists, librarians, publishers, critics, artists and teachers who are fans of children’s books will attend events. The scientist, writer and concurrently the director of the festival, Yuri Nechiporenko, believes that such an event will "sow books for winter reading, which is important in our country, which still lives in many respects with natural rhythms."

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru