In Bashkortostan, about 2,500 attendees took part in the Power of Words, a literary festival for families
12 april 2022
The Power of Words, a literary festival for families, was held in Blagoveshchensk on April 9 and 10 as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds
social investment program. This cultural and educational event was attended by about 2,500 people, including residents of Ufa, Bashkortostan’s capital.
In the course of the two-day event, famous writers Andrey Usachev, Denis Dragunsky and Nina Dashevskaya offered a series of very successful meet-the-star meetings with the residents of Blagoveshchensk and Ufa. Denis Dragunsky, the son of the writer Victor Dragunsky and a prototype for the latter’s The Adventures of Denis series of short stories, shared some little-known funny facts related to the background of some of the stories written by his father with the attending audience of children and their parents while also giving a detailed talk to the more mature audience focusing on modern literature and on his own literary work that is mostly based on the genre of a short story. The children and teenagers in the audience were extremely happy to meet their favorite author Nina Dashevskaya and peppered her with questions about the various characters in her books. Another one of the festival’s memorable moments included the children's writer, poet and playwright Andrey Usachev’s meeting with his audience under the heading of "How we used to play with our daddies: poems, songs, conversations, and cartoons" where the whole auditorium sang along with the celebrity author.
The festival’s celebrity guests left hundreds of autographs in their books that were on sale at the local book fair, having being published by some of Russia’s leading publishing houses including AST, Samokat, Alpina Publisher, Career Press and CompassGid.
I attended the festival together with my son Damir. He got to meet writer Nina Dashevskaya and instantly became a big fan of her writings! He really enjoyed her talk that was handled so easily, naturally and sincerely that he decided to visit all the other events with her participation. And, of course, we bought a book by our favorite author, too. We will be happy to read it and reminisce about this festival, Maria Kuchumova, one of the visitors of the festival, shared her impressions.
Several other notable literary figures also took part in the festival. Leonid Klein, a journalist, a radio host, and the author of the bestselling Useless Classics, used some really bright and vivid examples to show middle and high school students the true benefits of reading literature. Ufa’s TV presenter, journalist and cinematographer Sergei Barkhatov captivated his listeners with exciting lectures on the writings of Dostoevsky, Bulgakov and famous 20th century female fairy tale writers.
Teachers of the Russian language and literature from Blagoveshchensk’s schools visited the festival’s teaching laboratory organized by Rimma Rapport, a teacher of the Russian language and literature from St. Petersburg and a regular contributor to Mel, an online publication, Anton Skulachev, chairman of the Writers’ Guild, a teacher of the Russian language and literature at Moscow’s School 1514, and the editor-in-chief of SberClass literature platform, and by Ksenia Belkevich, deputy director of Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature, founder of the Weekend Fairy Tale studio, a teacher and a developer of programs for children. They introduced their audience of fellow teachers to novel approaches in education and shared their most relevant and up-to-date pedagogical practices with them.
One thing that happened here really resonated with me. I was holding a book club meeting for eight-graders and I was pleasantly surprised by these kids’ ability to carry on some really deep and nuanced conversations about serious matters, despite their seemingly young age. I think that in many respects this is due to their teachers’ hard work. After the book club meeting, I made a point of thanking the teachers for their excellent work with their students. And I was struck by their intense and emotional reaction: it was obvious that they were grateful for these kind words and for the appreciation of their efforts. I find this episode to be one of the most remarkable moments of the festival, Ksenia Belkevich, noted.
A total of more than thirty different events took place as part of The Power of Words festival including master classes put on by book publishing houses, drama master classes, the All-Russian Total Dictation campaign, a poetry battle and a reciting contest. The festival culminated in an on-stage performance of Elena Isayeva's play titled About My Mother and Me, presented by the creative tandem of two actresses: Polina Raikina (Sovremennik Theatre) and Dina Rakhimova (Stanislavsky Electric Theatre).
The Power of Words festival was arguably the centerpiece event in Blagoveshchensk’s cultural life this spring. We are sincerely appreciative of SIBUR’s support for our idea of holding this family festival. I am myself a great fan of reading. And I am convinced that for many people a book is still a faithful companion, a good advisor and a true friend, Oleg Golov, Head of Administration of the Municipal District of Blagoveshchensk, commented.
Advancement of culture and cultural development is one of key focus areas of our Formula for Good Deeds. Culture is a very important component of comfortable urban living that has a vital role to play in retaining our talents and promising young individuals. We hope that this festival will contribute to spurring the development of Blagoveshchensk’s literary community leading to the emergency of new book lovers and authors in the city, Evgeny Semenko, General Director of POLYEF, noted.
In turn, Ufa-based poets Maxim Nikandrov, Elena Latkina and Alyona Kaybysheva surprised the event’s organizers with a gift of their own, the poems they wrote about The Power of Words literary festival.