Red and Book Square – Kommersant
From June 4 to 7 near the Kremlin, the Red Square book festival was held. The entrance to it was free, and, according to the organizers, about 200 thousand people visited every day. More than 400 publishers presented their books from federal giants with thousands of items to regional and niche, who laid out three or four books on the shelves. For the first time at the festival there was a separate pavilion “Poetry”, and readings under the curator of the Donetsk poet, Anna Revyakina, were practically continuously on the stage.
The theme of the 80th anniversary of the Victory was thoroughly disclosed: large publishers put up racks and regiments with books about the Great Patriotic War and the present one (in the photo). In one of the pavilions there was even a closet with a selection of “children about the war”. There, however, there was exclusively Soviet classics: Arkady Gaidar, Sergey Mikhalkov, Nina Artyukhova and other venerable names of the same row.
Like a year ago, Zakhar Prilepin was the most “sold out” author of the festival. He presented the new book “Tuma” – a novel about the times of Stepan Razin. Earlier in the genre of “high” historical literature, Alexei Ivanov reigned undividedly. Perhaps Prilepin will squeeze him on the throne. In any case, the presentation of the Tumes collected a full house.
However, the festival showed that the “low” genres remain in demand among readers. So, the writer Daria Dontsova successfully presented fans for the next detective novelties. And on Friday, June 6, the Kommersant correspondent saw how several dozens of enthusiastic teenage girls lined up in a long ruling queue for the autograph of the writer Ana Sherry-the author of love novels and romantic fantasy.
