Books and Events: Trends, Projects, Achievements in the Light of the 34th Moscow International Book Fair

The leading event for the library and publishing sector — the 34th Moscow International Book Fair (MIBF) — took place on September 24—27, 2021 at the Central Exhibition Complex “Expocentre”. The forum was held in a “hybrid format”, foreign participants joined the events online. There were announced the winners of the National competition “Book of the Year — 2021” and the 9th Competition of the Russian Library Association “The Best Professional Book of the Year — 2021”.The business program of the MIBF contained sectoral conferences and round tables devoted to the insight of state of the book industry. The 2nd International Conference “The World Book Industry in new realities: new technologies, new challenges, new prospects”, the sectoral conference “The Russian Book Market — 2021”, the round table “Books in the city” took place at the Fair. The MIBF outlined the vectors of the development of modern culture, creative industries and creative entrepreneurship in the context of books; prospects for the development of new formats for the reorganization of territories and the formation of a stable local identity; intersection points of interests of citizens, local and federal authorities, business and cultural institutions. The article summed up the overall results of the MIBF.

Contesting Stereotypes through Self-Representation? A Review of the Romani Exhibition Stands at the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair

Romani literature was exhibited at the Frankfurt Book Fair at specific stands and events for the first time in 2019. This article reviews the presented literature and authors and discusses advantages and disadvantages of establishing the category “Romani literature” within the context of the Frankfurt Book Fair. It argues that the category provides a new platform for Romani authors as well as for Romani identity politics and was set up with the aim to fight existing racism against Roma. Making oneself visible as a diverse minority at such an event can help to break up stereotypes and constitutes a success after centuries of underrepresentation. At the same time, the article uncovers the danger of feeding into essentialism through the label “Romani literature” and reflects on the limitations of emancipatory politics when participating in a predominantly commercial event.

Visualization of Images from F.M. Dostoyevsky’s Novel “Crime and Punishment” in Works of the Book Graphic Artist I.T. Bogdesko

In 1970–1971, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of the USSR Ilya Trofimovich Bogdesko (1923—2010) created a linocut series for the socio-psychological novel “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoyevsky. The illustrations were made specifically for the Leipzig Book Fair in 1971. The artist’s idea had been limited to the competition task: he created only three illustrations in the linocut technique, and their artistic solution was based on the conditional-decorative principle of composition organization. The main characters are depicted almost two-dimensionally, “purified” of everyday details, environment, entourage. Using a minimum of visual means, I.T. Bogdesko achieved a sensation of stunning drama in the illustrations. For this work, the artist was awarded a gold medal in Leipzig. At the end of 1971, “Kartya Moldovanyaske” published the book “Crime shi pedyapse” (“Crime and Punishment”) in the Moldovan language. In the design of that book, his illustrations were used — “Raskolnikov” (on the dust cover) and “The Old Pawnbroker” (on the title page). A different vision of Sonya’s image appeared on the dust cover. The preserved sketches, a number of which are presented in this article, allow recognizing the artist’s work hidden from prying eyes. In 1995, Bogdesko applied to Dostoevsky again. He created the writer’s portrait against the background of the characteristic St. Petersburg landscape. In those years, the artist was working on “Don Quixote”, inspired by Dostoevsky’s expressing about the novel by Cervantes: “There is nothing in the whole world deeper and stronger than this composition”. Bogdesko upheld this assertion with 36 illustrations (by chisel engraving) for the famous novel: a titanic work that lasted more than two decades. The artist executed the portrait of the Russian writer in the same unique technique of classical engraving as the illustrations for “Don Quixote”. Changes in graphic techniques dramatically alter the plasticity of images of the characters of “Crime and Punishment”: a quarter of a century later, the tragically flat vision of linocuts turned into a sharp, nervous, frequent movement of the chisel. Bogdesko created three illustrations for Dostoevsky’s novel in the technique of chisel engraving.

Online Book Fairs during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Online book fairs are being held in Vietnam to replace traditional offline events that have been shelved owing to the COVID-19 crisis. This study aims to explore book consumers’ perceptions regarding digital book fairs and their evaluation of the first-ever national online book fair held in Vietnam. In-depth interviews were conducted to obtain insights from people who had attended the online book event. The findings provide acceptance of and support for the organization of digital book fairs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees generally appreciated the convenience of the national online book fair and the promotional programmes offered by various publishers and distributors. Furthermore, some attendees enjoyed the novelty of the event and the feeling of being included in the reading community. Nevertheless, most of the attendees highlighted several limitations, especially the lack of social and face-to-face interaction. These findings have implications for online book fair organizers, publishers, and book distributors alike.

‘This Is What We Share’

This chapter focuses on the joint guests of honour at the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair, Flanders and the Netherlands – a rare case of two government organisations representing separate national groupings (Flanders and the Netherlands) coming together to present the literature of a single language (Dutch) on the international stage. It recounts how the two delegations’ shared status as guests of honour for 2016 came about through a collaboration between the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Flemish Literature Fund (now known as Flanders Literature) and analyses the branding decisions made by the 2016 organizers. Conceptually, the chapter engages with perspectives from field theory and the sociology of translation to elaborate branding as a form of position-taking and guest of honour presentations as important mechanisms of transnational capital conversion.