Literature festival “The Power of the Word” drew more than 1,500 reading enthusiasts to Blagoveshchensk

26 october 2023

For the second time, Bashkortostan's city of Blagoveshchensk became host to the family-oriented literature festival “The Power of the Word”. In the two days that the festival lasted, it brought over 1,500 attendees, including the residents of Blagoveshchensk proper, as well as guests from other cities and communities such as Iglino, Ufa, Birsk, Kumertau, and others. This was a cultural and educational project sponsored by SIBUR's social investment program The Formula for Good Deeds.

The festival's program featured edutainment activities intended for audiences of different ages including lectures, master classes, creativity workshops and quests, as well as meetings with contemporary Russian writers. The festival kicked off with a concert by Grigory Gladkov, a famous Soviet and Russian composer and Merited Arts Figure, who performed popular songs from favorite animated films on the stage of the city's Palace of Culture.

Tatiana Gaisina, a guest of the festival:
“We came from Birsk, an old Bashkir merchant town, specifically to attend this wonderful festival! I really wanted to introduce my children to the music of the author and composer Grigory Gladkov, because I was literally raised listening to the songs he had composed. We may spend a lot of time online fiddling with our phones in this age of the Internet, but we still do our best to expose our children to traditional “paper” books and instill in them a love for reading. I am, for one, currently re-reading Chekhov. I really enjoy his short humorous stories.”

The public met their favorite Russian authors - Shamil Idiatullin, Anna Matveyeva, Alexei Oleynikov, and Yuliya Ivanova - in the flesh. The writers engaged with their audience in a joint discussion titled “Books That Influenced Me”, as well as read their own pieces and gave a series of talks where they shared their creative discoveries and techniques.

Many of the master classes were organized specifically for children with disabilities. The festival's organizers made sure that all children could attend the largest possible number of exciting meetings and events. In addition, both days of the festival featured a book market, which was where Russia's top publishers presented their most popular new releases. Local book market players played their part as well: the Museum of Modern Art's Embassy Store ZAMAN (Ufa) and the Planet of Books bookstore chain presented their new collections of books for adults and children alike. Some of the books exhibited by the publishers attending the festival were gifted to Blagoveshchensky District's school libraries.

Another popular feature of the book market were a series of master classes targeting the youngest book readers from the age of 4, where the chidden could enjoy making crafts out of ordinary household materials.

Sergey Barkhatov, a journalist, TV presenter and film critic from Ufa, gave a series of fascinating lectures about several famous writers including Nikolai Gogol and Sergei Dovlatov, and about one literary character - the sleuth Sherlock Holmes. The festival also included an educational session for professional librarians organized by writer Anna Matveyeva and Anton Skulachov, Chairman of the Guild of Wordsmiths Association.

Lyudmila Khvan, director of Blagoveshchensky District’s library network:
“This is the second time I've attended this literature festival. And I want to note its top-notch organization! Having been in charge of similar cultural projects, I appreciate the hard work that has gone into making this event happen. What I particularly enjoyed was the presence of publishers whose books are not always easily available in our bookstores. The book market was another great idea as it dovetails very nicely with the festival's core program”.

Irina Mulyukova, a guest of the festival:
“The moment we found out about the upcoming festival, we immediately went to the festival's website to sign up. The organizers provided free transfer from Ufa to Blagoveshchensk. Without hesitation, we chose to spend the entire weekend here! We managed to do quite a lot in this span of time. My daughter attended a master class organized by the children's book club, where they were creating their own shadow show. I attended a talk by the writer Shamil Idiatullin which I enjoyed a lot as I had recently read his books -”Brezhnev City” and “The Return of the Pioneer”. And I even managed to attend a lecture by Sergei Barkhatov about the art of the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. It is so wonderful that real stars, children's writers and composers came to visit us, and they interacted with the children with such cordiality. We would be happy to come back again! And many thanks to the organizers and sponsors of this wonderful festival”.

The festival's impressive program was crowned by the performance by its headliner Ah Astakhova (Irina Astakhova), one of Russia's most popular contemporary poets.

Anton Podtsepnya, a guest of the festival:
“Festivals like this are really high-profile events for smaller towns. We don't get many visits from true stars, especially modern literature's stars. I am delighted that I was able to come here, because I really wanted to attend a meeting with Shamil Idiatullin and the other writers. It would be nice if events such as this could be made an annual occurrence for us, the people of Bashkortostan”.

Oleg Golov, a member of the Federation Council for the Republic of Bashkortostan:
“SIBUR is known to care not only about its own staff, but also about the communities where it operates, and the people who live and thrive in those communities. Events such as these are valuable for preserving and enriching our cultural traditions, for endowing a small town with a bright and attractive image of an event-filled destination. This is important primarily for our children who even now, in the era dominated by digital technologies, can still feel and experience all those wonderful emotions that only a real printed book can impart.”

Maxim Logunov, Director for Security at Polyef:
“Our social investment program, the Formula for Good Deeds, makes it possible to give a sense of unity and common purpose to everyone, including employees, members of their families, friends and neighbors, via projects such as this literary festival for families. It helps to bring together people of different generations and, ultimately, unite our entire society. This is one of its core values”.

The Power of Word book festival has been held in the cities where the company operates since 2022 thanks to the support of SIBUR's social investment program, The Formula for Good Deeds. The festival's mission is to introduce readers, both children and adults, to the contemporary authors and new book releases. The festival features talks by writers, master classes and lectures focusing on books and other topics of general cultural interest, as well as reciting contests. A book market operates throughout the duration of the event, showcasing the most interesting publishers, including independent ones. Blagoveshchensk has been hosting the festival for the second consecutive year.