Opinions & Interviews

Ovsyannikov: Popularity of Minsk' Book Fair proves the nation is spiritually healthy

MINSK, 6 February (BelTA) – The popularity of the Minsk International Book Fair speaks about the spiritual health of the Belarusian nation, Director General of the General Directorate for International Book Exhibitions and Fairs (Moscow) Nikolai Ovsyannikov told media at Russia’s national stand of the 20th Minsk International Book Fair on 6 February.

Nikolai Ovsyannikov was one of the originators of the Minsk International Book Fair: 20 years ago at the book fair in Moscow he voiced his proposal to conduct the similar event in Minsk. “Today the Minsk book fair maintains its prestige. The fact that it arouses such keen interest, especially among young people, proves the nation is spiritually healthy,” Nikolai Ovsyannikov said. “If people buy and read books, this country has the future,” he added.

Russia, as the Guest of Honor of the book forum this year, has prepared an extensive program. Thus, today the conference hall of the Russian stand will host a roundtable to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad. The organizer of the roundtable is the Union of Writers of Russia in cooperation with the Union of Writers of Belarus. On 7 February Russia plans a presentation of the bilingual anthology of the Belarusian poetry from the series “Slavonic Poetry of the 20th-21st Centuries. From Century to Century”, the winner of the Russian national publishing competition Book of the Year 2010 in the nomination “Belye Rosy”.

The expo will be attended by Russian publishers, writers, public figures, representatives of the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, the General Directorate for International Book Exhibitions and Fairs, the Association of Book Distributors of Independent States. A meeting and an autograph session with Alexander Prokhanov, one of the most famous Russian writers, a publicist and a public figure, is scheduled for 8 February.

Children’s books will have a central place in the program of the Guest of Honor at the 20th Minsk International Book Fair. The central element of Russia’s exposition will be new books of the Detskaya Literatura Publishing House which celebrates its 80th anniversary. The publishing house will display its books as part of the "Publishing Programs of the Government of Moscow" on 9 February. The Moscow House of Books will organize a children’s festival “Meeting with the Book” and a contest “Do You Know Fairy Tales?” The presentation of the international contest of young reciters “Live Classics” will be held the same day.

The Russian exposition is aimed at preserving spiritual unity of Slavonic cultures and their mutual enrichment. Modern Russian literature will be on the agenda of round tables “New Books of Russia”, “Literature Awards and Book Contests in Russia and Belarus”, etc.

Russia’s national exposition with the total area of 250 square meters will showcase products of about 200 publishing houses. There will be collective thematic expositions, including “The World of Slavonic Culture”, “Publications for Children and the Youth”, “History. Culture. Science. Education”, etc.

Russia is a regular participant of the Minsk book fair and always brings full information on the country and its book industry. By tradition, Russian publishers donate their best editions to Belarusian readers. On the closing day of the forum the books from the Russian stand are taken to the Belarusian libraries.  

It is expected that the 20th Minsk International Book Fair will bring together publishers from 25 countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Venezuela, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Cuba, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, the United States, Finland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and France. For the first time the exhibition will feature books from Palestine and Serbia. The centerpiece of the fair will be Iran. Book publishing, history, culture and traditions of this country will be on display in Minsk thanks to the efforts of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Belarus, the Culture Ministry of Iran.

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