Turning Over a New Leaf

The third Moscow International Book Festival, which runs to Sunday at the Central House of Artists, is well on its way to becoming a major event in the world of books and reading. Whereas most book fairs in Moscow and elsewhere are usually business-oriented events, this festival will focus on the readers and their participation in a variety of activities, said Alexander Gavrilov, the festival's program director.

"The last two years have shown that readers love lectures and discussions," he said. "They enjoy thinking and observing." The festival includes a huge range of book presentations, talks by industry experts, movie screenings and music concerts.

One series of talks called "2020" will feature Russia's leading designers, software engineers and authors thinking aloud about what Russia will look like in the year 2020. "Any forecasts for such a time span are bound to be silly and mistaken," Gavrilov said. "But on the other hand, everything that will happen in twelve years' time is already there, we just need to look closer."

One of the trends that is likely here to stay is the interest in nonfiction literature. "I've just been to a bookstore on Nevsky Prospekt," said writer, critic and television presenter Alexander Arkhangelsky in a telephone interview from St. Petersburg. "Among the bestsellers there are foreign science books, such as Steven Hawking's 'The Universe in a Nutshell,' and reprints of old Soviet popular science bestsellers of the 'Amazing Physics' type. Why can't modern Russian scientists and journalists produce something on that level? Surely they can!"

With this in mind, the Dynasty Foundation, headed by Dmitry Zimin, will announce a new nonfiction prize at the festival. "I'm happy to endorse it in any way I can," Arkhangelsky said. The winner will receive a $25,000 prize, and additional money will be targeted at the promotion and broad distribution of the winning title.

Arkhangelsky will also present his new novel, "Tsena Otsecheniya," or "The Price of Excision," at the festival. "I tried to write a rather conventional novel, with modern passions and everything, and then to return the story to a more cerebral sphere," he said.

The festival is becoming increasingly international with each year. Famous Swedish children's author Pernilla Stalfelt will present Russian translations of her books and participate in several discussions and meetings with readers. One of them is titled "What are meetings with writers for?"

Central House of Artists Colorful Program director Alexander Gavrilov is the driving force behind the Third moscow book festival.

"Eshkol," the project devoted to the promotion of modern Israeli and Jewish culture in Russia, has announced the participation of Israeli writer Lizzy Doron and her collection of short stories "Why Didn't You Come Before the War?" Another Eshkol event will be titled "Eat Up Sholem Aleichem," a tradition from the previous book festival, when dishes from literature are prepared and served by distinguished chefs and commented upon by distinguished writers and critics. This year, the roles will be carried out by Roman Gershuni from one of Moscow's best Jewish restaurants, alongside poet and scholar Yulia Idlis.

"Cooking events have proved to be especially successful," Gavrilov said. "So this year we decided to answer the usual quibble about writers being freeloaders sucking up the nation's resources." The answer? A series of events called "Writers Feed the Russian People," where authors of both fiction and nonfiction books will, literally, cook for the audience something related to the topics of their books. "It's guaranteed to be a hit," he said.

A range of prizes and awards will also be presented at the festival. "We will discuss the burning issue of what kind of prizes Russia needs," Gavrilov said. The winners of many major awards will present their new work at the festival. Dmitry Bykov will read from his new novel, "The Write-Offs"; Timur Kibirov, the winner of the relatively new and controversial Poet Prize, will present his new poems; Ilya Boyashov will discuss with the readers his work and the National Bestseller Prize, which he was awarded last year. The traditional "Breakfasts with a Star" will feature the singer Irina Bogushevskaya and writers Mikhail Veller and Linor Goralik.

Artyom Troitsky, the nonconformist music critic, will present his individual prize for nonformat music, aptly called "Steppenwolf" in honor of Herman Hesse's novel. A separate space will be devoted to video art: Last year's presentation of short clips based on the work of modern poets proved to be very popular, and this year's contribution will contain many home-made videos, not commissioned by the organizers but made by amateurs just for fun.

A permanent exhibition at the festival will celebrate the Russian popularity of Sherlock Holmes -- in literature, movies, popular culture and other spheres of life. The Russian circle of Holmes lovers is surprisingly wide and includes people as well-informed as Svetozar Chernov, the author of "Baker Street and Around," who knows every nook and cranny of Victorian London.

"The festival is a great idea," Arkhangelsky said. "It's not Edinburgh yet [one of the world's major book festivals], but we're moving in that direction. I always say that one should use the woodpecker principle -- to drum the tree until the worm comes out or until someone takes notice. The organizers of the festival are doing a great job at promoting the culture of reading."

The Third Moscow International Book Festival runs to June 15 at the Central House of Artists, located at 10 Krymsky Val. Metro Park Kultury. For more information seewww.moscowbookfest.ru