The first day of the XII Red Square Book Festival has ended

The XII Red Square Book Festival was opened by a concert dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich, a composer whose work was inextricably linked with great literature, poetry, drama and human history. The Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble conducted by People's Artist of Russia Yuri Bashmet performed "Prelude and Scherzo", Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra and Quartet No. 8 arranged for string orchestra. Honored Artist of Russia Ekaterina Mechetina plays the piano, Sergei Strishchenko plays the trumpet, and Polina Agureeva plays the art direction.

As part of the poetry hour on the "Main Stage" in honor of the 10th anniversary season of the Lyceum Award, students of the Konstantin Raikin Higher School of Performing Arts read poetry. The instrumental accompaniment was provided by the actors themselves. They set the rhythm to the lines of Ksenia August, Varvara Zabortseva, Artyom Ragimov, Ivan Kupreyanov, Daria Ilgova, Elena Zhambalova, Konstantin Komarov, Evgenia Baranova, Anton Azarenkov and other award winners from different years.

Writers, journalists, screenwriters, graphic artists, and marketers discussed booktrailers and the impact of neural networks on this format of print book promotion. A short video to promote a book remained a niche format in Russia for a long time, because publishers did not have budgets for high-quality video, and professional studios did not see prospects in this market. The arrival of generative AI has changed everything, opening up access to video content creation with almost no attachments.

However, you can't do without a team here anyway, noted screenwriter and director Boris Milovanov. "Neural networks have created a unique moment of creative chaos, and now conditions must be created for the creation of booktrailers, when we come to the fact that the rules will be established. I don't think it will be cheap. It will be cheaper than production, but besides the author, at least an editor will be needed." The participants in the discussion came to the conclusion that this had already happened in the music and film industries. There is already a movie trailer standard that is understandable to the viewer. When a standard for a booktrailer appears, the reader will also easily perceive it, but the main thing is that the creators will understand what needs to be put into such a promotion.

"The booktrailer should bring intrigue, but this is only the first touch, familiarization with the product. There are other steps to encourage people to read," Boris Milovanov said.

Writer and journalist Igor Epifanov shared that as an author he uses AI as an assistant and assistant. But I'm not ready to trust him to write the whole book.

A presentation of a children's collection of short stories "There are no small victories. Conversations about important things", highlighting the exploits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, the courage of participants in a special military operation and the brave deeds of ordinary children.

The creators of the book, authors from Klin Svetlana Alekseeva, Larisa Nazarova and Svetlana Soroka said that "some of the works in the collection are based on real events. For example, the story "Misha Balakirev. The Nameless Grave" tells the story of a pioneer hero, after whom a street in Klin is named. The character of the story, the schoolboy Danya, learns about his life and feat from Yuri Zakharov, a real person, a friend of Misha Balakirev."

The authors believe that heroism is born from overcoming fear and weakness and is impossible without love for the motherland and responsibility for its future.

The meeting "In the house of eight shot one ..." The anniversary of "Uncle Stepa": how the image of the main giant of Soviet children's literature was created" was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Sergei Mikhalkov's poem "Uncle Stepa".

The panelists were Yulia Subbotina—Mikhalkova, Vice-President of the Russian Cultural Foundation, Andrey Korovin, graphic artist, Marina Kurchevskaya, director of animation films, Viktor Volsky, theater artist, painter, Nadezhda Bugoslavskaya, artist, winner of the 2026 Russian Government Prize in Children's and Adolescent literature, and the chief artist of the K.O.T. Publishing House." Natalia Fedorova discussed the first printed incarnations of the world's tallest policeman, a symbol of justice and kindness, Uncle Styopa. The guests learned how the giant's appearance changed from the first illustrations to modern interpretations, and what artistic techniques were used to convey his monumentality and good nature.

Yulia Subbotina-Mikhalkova noted that "Sergei Mikhalkov did not particularly highlight any of the images created by the artists. Everyone was bright and memorable in their own way."

The site also hosted a "Folk Costume Workshop", one of the site's events dedicated to the unity of the peoples of Russia. The organizers introduced older preschoolers and younger schoolchildren to traditional costumes, their elements (kokoshnik, sarafan, kosovorotka) and materials. The children saw a real female Chuvash costume and painted the outfit of one of the peoples of our country according to the pattern. The event was hosted by the staff of the publishing house "Russian Word".

At the presentation of the magazine for teenagers "Guiding Star. School Reading", which was invented and founded 30 years ago by public figure and writer Albert Likhanov, talked about the value of print media for children.

"We strive to make our magazine The Guiding Star a reference point for children in the world of good and kind literature," said Dmitry Likhanov, editor—in-chief of the Guiding Star magazine. — Over the 30 years of our existence, we have printed all the colors of classic teenage world literature, and we are actively working with modern authors. With our young readers, we try to talk about the eternal concepts that the human soul lives by, especially the young one — about love, camaraderie, compassion, support, honesty and courage. This is exactly what the world's fiction teaches each of us.

Albert Anatolyevich Likhanov, the founder of the magazine, strove to ensure that the best works were available even to poor families. And we do not break this covenant. The magazine is published 12 times a year, and the cost of one copy for subscribers is 100 rubles. Is it possible to buy a children's book for such a price now?"

A round table on the subtleties and difficulties of poetic translation was held in the Poetry tent as part of the program of the Festival of National Literatures. It opened with a solemn ceremony dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Program for the Support of National Literatures of the Peoples of Russia. The concert program of the School of Dramatic Art Theater Choir combined Chuvash, Mordovian, Mari, Chechen, Bashkir songs, accompanied by ethnic instruments and dance numbers.

The presentation of the anthology "Modern literature of the peoples of Russia" was also held.: poetry and Prose of the peoples of the North Caucasus", published in 2025 by O.G.I. publishing house. This publication, dedicated to the literature of the peoples who speak and write in the Caucasian languages of the Abkhaz-Adyghe and Nakh-Dagestan families, continues the series "Modern Literature of the peoples of Russia", which contains works created after 1991 in 16 national languages.

The translators discussed the difficulties in their work. People's Poet of the Republic of Dagestan, translator and publicist Marina Akhmedova stated that a high-quality footer is important to her. At the same time, the so—called verlieb is already a self-sufficient work of art. "You can't translate Lakhs as Avars — you need to understand and translate the soul of the people, their mentality, and culture," Marina Akhmedova clarified.

At the same time, the head of the Tatar seminar at the Literary Institute, Alyona Karimova, said that it was not necessary to translate everything in a row, it was important to find works that deserved it and "what you fell in love with."

The round table turned into a poetry marathon "Poems in the native language", where modern poets read their own poetic texts in their native languages and in translations into Russian.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the birth of writer, storyteller, composer, and artist Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffman, the GodLiterature portal.The Russian Federation has held a short story contest in the spirit of the Russian Hoffmaniad "Miracles and Villains". The contestants combined several details. In their works, the most popular animal is a cat, and the most popular city is Koenigsberg (Hoffmann's hometown). Among the most popular locations are abandoned houses, workshops and through the looking glass. And the most popular genre is fantasy.