­Book Fair has Moscow covered

Moscow has opened its main book event for publishers and readers. Some 1,500 participants, over 200,000 books in dozens of languages and over 500 events await you at the All-Russian Exhibition Center and Gorky Park.

Italy has become the guest of honor at this year’s International Book Fair. Apart from having 45 publishers represented here and visits by 17 writers, scientists and philosophers, the Italian program has much more to offer.

One of the highlights is the exhibition titled “Treasures of Identity” showcasing rare manuscripts and printed editions by prominent Italian authors – men of politics and science and culture figures. For example among them will be one of the earliest editions of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, Galileo Galilei’s and Alessandro Volta’s works published while they were still alive, and an 18th-century edition with Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings. The display will be held at Moscow’s Pashkov House through September 12.

The Book Fair’s program will also see around 200 prominent writers and cultural activists, including People’s Booker Prize-winner Vladimir Sorokin, famous children’s writer Eduard Uspensky, the actor and director behind Burnt by the Sun, Nikita Mikhalkov, and many others.

On Friday, Moscow’s landmark Gorky Park will open another branch of the Book Fair – the BookMarket. This will be more of a festival, involving literature, music, contemporary art, cinema and education. One of the highlights here will be the performance of the risque duet by actor Mikhail Efremov and writer, poet and historian Dmitry Bykov Grazhdanin Poet (Citizen Poet) – a satirical project denouncing the state of things in modern Russia.

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