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Lyudmila Putina opens international book festival for children

Other News Materials 10 October 2007 06:04 (UTC +04:00)

( Itar-Tass ) - The initiative, started by grownups, found a response in children's souls. This is how the Russian president's wife and chairman of the organising committee of the international BibliObraz festivals Lyudmila Putina described the result of staging these festivals. It opened in Moscow for the third time on Tuesday.

She noted that "a book permits to find a compromise not only between nations, but also between fathers and children, that is settles this eternal conflict".

The Russian president's wife also called attention to the international action "Opening one another", held on the sidelines of the festival. "Conceived as the opening of teenagers to one another, it has become an eye-opener also for adults," she said.

The action was launched for the first time at the BibliObraz-2005 festival at the initiative of Putina and was held to publish a collection of literary works from various countries, addressed to teenagers. For instance the current collection includes works by authors from Austria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Britain, Germany, Kyrgyzstan and the US.

The distinguishing feature of this collection is that children, first readers of works and children of several Moscow schools became its main illustrators. The entire edition of the collection will be handed over on a free basis to Russian school libraries.

Putina's initiative had been backed by first ladies of countries, works of whose authors were included into the Russian collection. Many of them participated on Tuesday in the festival opening ceremony in Moscow. The Azerbaijan president's wife Mekhriban Alieva noted that BibliObraz-2007 "is a wonderful possibility of providing necessary literature to young readers. This will help to enlarge the Russian-language cultural space". She emphasised that "to recognise means to understand and to respect".

The Armenian president's wife Bella Kocharyan described the great interest of Armenian men of letters who participated in a contest, announced in the republic. Its aim was to select the best literary works which were included in the collection in the framework of the "Opening one another" action. "Opening the book, we open one another," Kocharyan said.

Putina thanked the wives of heads of state, who had backed the idea of holding the BibliObraz festivals and said that "people are afraid of what they do not know". "Let us be open and recognizable," she stated.

A cancellation of a postage stamp, specially printed for the festival, was held in memory of holding the BibliObraz-2007 festival. Lyudmila Putina and Minister of Information Technologies and Communications Leonid Reiman jointly cancelled one of postage stamps.

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