News & Events in Belarus

Exhibitors from 28 countries will showcase their products at the book forum that opens a calendar year of international exhibitions. The Guest of Honor at this year’s exhibition is China that is going to display about 5,000 publications at its stand with the total area of about 400 square meters. One of the important events of the forum will be the signing of a cooperation agreement between the China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and the Information Ministry of Belarus to translate and publication of classic literary works of China and Belarus in 2015-2020. The exhibition will comprise a lot of interesting events that will be attended by Chinese writers. The events will include book presentations of four Chinese authors, a book donation ceremony for the National Library of Belarus, discussions on the issues related to the development of the national literatures.

Russia will hold the title of the central exhibitor. Big expositions will be showcased by Germany, France, the UK, Iran. Belarus’ stand will be divided into thematic sections: My Belarus zone, the encyclopedic literature zone, the artist’s book zone, the study materials zone and children’s literature.

The international symposium, Writer and Time, will be held in Minsk for the first time. Writers from 16 countries will discuss the role of artistic intelligentsia in the modern global world, the importance of the contemporary writer’s word for the preservation of the spiritual and moral fundamentals in the development of the society and the state, the high mission of the writer in the work with the young generation. Among the organizers of the writers’ symposium are the Information Ministry, the Union of Writers of Belarus and the publishing house Zvyazda. The event will be held in cooperation with the Minsk City Hall.

The main themes of the Minsk Book Fair will be the 70^th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War and the youth theme as the exhibition is held in the Year of Youth. Winners of the young writers’ contest The First Chapter will be honored at the forum. The organizers of the book fair will also award winners of the international contest of patriotic posters which is timed to the 70^th anniversary of the Great Victory. Visitors of the book fair will see the best posters from various countries of the CIS.

Winners of the 54th nationwide book contest Art of the Book will be awarded during the 22^nd edition of the Minsk International Book Fair. The awarding ceremony will be held on 13 February. Partaking in the contest were record-high 46 publishers. A total of 148 publications were showcased at the contest. The Grand Prix of the 54^th nationwide book contest Art of the Book went to the photo album Castles of Belarus.

The 22^nd Minsk International Book Fair will be held in the national exhibition center BelExpo at 14 Pobeditelei Avenue. The forum is organized by the Belarusian Information Ministry, Belkniga and Makbel booksellers.