What do Russians like to read?

The president of Ukraine sent his greetings to the 21st Moscow Inter­national Book Fair, which ended on Sept. 6. Six pavilions displayed about 180,000 new titles from 82 countries. The book fair covered an area of 33,500 sq. m.-the largest to date. Pavilion 58 housed the book stands of Ukraine, the guest of honor at this year’s fair.

“We gratefully accepted the invitation to be the guest of honor at the book fair,” said Anatolii Murakhovsky, the first deputy head of the Ukrainian State Radio and Television Company, at a briefing on the eve of the exhibition, which was held as part of Ukraine Day. “About 20 publishing houses, which are keen on establishing business relations with Russian book sellers, brought their finest publications here.”

Until the last minute, the book fair organizers were not sure that Ukraine would come to Moscow. Journalists from Germany, Austria, and China frequently asked the Ukrainian delegation if the Ukrainian authorities had tried to ban Ukraine’s exhibit because of the latest political events and the deterioration of Russian-Ukrainian relations. “We re­peatedly had to explain that books have always been the best diplomats. Books unite people and remind them of genuine human values,” said Valentyna Ba­by­liul­ko, the director of the Department of Book Publishing and the Press.

This thought was emphasized during the opening ceremony by Igor Shcho­golev, Russia’s Minister of Mass Com­munications. “We are very pleased that Ukraine is the guest of honor at our forum this year,” the minister said. “It is impossible to detect where Ukraine ends and Russia begins, and vice versa. Pushkin, Gogol, Shevchenko, Sko­vo­ro­da... We do not divide them up between us. Is it so important where someone was born, studied, and lived for part of their life? Books are a never-ending source of wisdom. It will only look smaller if we try to divide it. We are glad to see Ukraine’s successes in the publishing sector. This year the Ukrainian publisher Hrani-T won the Grand Prix at the international Book Art competition. There is symbolism in the fact that Nikolai Gogol’s St. Petersburg Stories, illustrated by the artist Charyshnikov, were named best book. This publication very much de­serves this high distinction.”

The heads of the official delegations of participating countries at the Moscow Book Fair were the first to visit the Ukrainian exhibition. They were immediately taken with the political publications of Summit Books, especially the book Why Medvedev? by the Ukrainian journalist Vitalii Portnikov. The Rus­sian representatives were seen leafing through it.

The delegation heads also stopped by Folio Publishers, part of the Lichnosti Publishing House, which specializes in biographical literature. The Russian minister said he would definitely be purchasing some books. He was particularly interested in the books issued by the Hrani-T and Baltia-Druk publishing houses. He was unable to mask his surprise when he found out that their superbly designed books are printed in Ukraine. In the past, such high-quality publications were printed only abroad.

Visitors were also impressed by The Day‘s photo exhibit, which adorned the exhibition room. Mikhail Seslavinsky, the head of Russia’s Federal Printing and Mass Communications Agency, noted that “in these photographs Ukraine is presented through people’s faces, not through the official prism.” Fairgoers named Serhii Nesterenko’s photo “Uk­rainians, Read!” the photographic symbol of the Moscow Book Fair.

Ukrainian publishers were not complaining about lack of attention. Plenty of Russians and foreign visitors visited the Ukrainian book stands. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, Kos­tiantyn Hryshchenko, joked that at one point he was a tour guide, showing the way to Pavilion 58 to the Chinese, who had lost their way in the vast spaces of the All-Russian Exhibition Complex.

It is wonderful that visitors to the fair have an opportunity to buy Uk­rai­nian books. In past years Ukrainian publishers had only one display copy of each of their publications. According to Vira Soloviova, director of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Publishing House, The Age of Hetman Mazepa in Documents was sold out on the first day. Visitors were also requesting and buying other historical books, such as A Description of Sar­matian Europe, a unique work by the Italian, Alessandro Guagnini, which was first published in 1611 in Cracow, and A History of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The first volume of this history was launched at last year’s Moscow Book Fair, where 300 purchasers inscribed their names on a list in order to get their hands on a copy.

Moscow State University students Larissa Volyntseva and Natalia Petrova learned about the Ukrainian exhibition from a TV program, and they came to Pavilion 58 to buy Eugene Onegin in Ukrainian. The book has not been published yet, and the Uspikh ta Kariera Publishers only had an advance reading copy at their stand. The book features Pushkin’s masterpiece in the Russian original and in translation by the Uk­rai­nian poet Maksym Rylsky. The book is illustrated with drawings by Pushkin and the talented Russian artist Nadia Rusheva, who died at a very young age. Holding this beautiful publication in their hands, the two students promised to come back next year and buy it.

At the stand run by Kartografiia, the state-run scientific publishing house, visitors were avidly leafing through the huge National Atlas of Ukraine and buying brightly-colored maps of Ukrainian cities. A Moscow couple — Yurii La­bint­sev and Larissa Shchavinskaia — were looking for a map of Truskavets, where they are planning to go on holiday.

The couple also has a professional interest in Ukrainian books. Their home library contains nearly 10,000 books, one-fifth of which are Ukrainian publications. They are primarily interested in books on history and culture. At the fair the couple bought about 200 dollars’ worth of Ukrainian books, which are less expensive than Russian ones, they said.

Professor Labintsev is a culturologist, a leading research associate at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a member of the State Academy of Slavonic Culture. He is the author of more than 600 monographs and brochures published in more than 10 European languages. An ethnic Russian, he was instrumental in the founding of several Ukrainian Studies organizations, including the Russian Association of Ukrainists in Moscow.

His wife Larysa Shchavinskaia is also a culturologist, Slavic philologist, informatics and communications specialist, and a leading research associate at the Institute of Slavic Studies. She has authored more than 300 articles, many of which are devoted to the history of Uk­rai­nian culture and Ukrainian-Be­la­ru­sian cultural cooperation.

Moscow resident Vasilii Yevtu­shen­ko is a pensioner, who visits the Moscow Book Fair every year. He always seeks out Ukrainian books because he was born in Sumy oblast. He was very happy that Ukraine was the guest of honor at this year’s Moscow Book Fair. During the Ukrainian delegation’s briefing pegged to the opening, he even took the floor and thanked his fellow countrymen for accepting Russia’s invitation to attend the fair. What troubled him, however, was that Ukraine’s participation in the book fair was not given enough advertising at the All-Russian Exhibition Center and in the city of Moscow.