With love to the mother tongue: 25th edition of the Belarusian Written Language Day in Ivanovo

Meetings with famous writers, presentations of new books from leading publishers, celebration of the best novelists and poets, discussions and roundtables with foreign writers... Following Knowledge Day, Belarus celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Belarusian Written Language Day in Ivanovo, Brest Oblast, on 1-2 September.

Polotsk, Turov, Novogrudok, Nesvizh, Orsha, Pinsk, Zaslavl, Mstislavl, Mir, Kamenets, Postavy hosted the previous editions of the Belarusian Written Language Day. Ivanovo (former Yanov) was chosen the host of the festival in the Year of Native Land to honor its historical heritage. It was the ancestral land of the family of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Belarusian artist and public figure Napoleon Orda, writer and humanist Yan Protasovich...

The festival kicked off on 1 September with a back-to-school ceremony at Belarusian-language Secondary School No. 4 that reopened after major renovations. The event was attended by Belarus’ Information Minister Alexander Karlyukevich. The festive program continued with a book and press festival. Here visitors had a chance to get acquainted with the latest editions of publishing houses, to attend a presentation of books and periodicals, talk to Belarusian writers and journalists and even try their hand in printing. The final of the Living Classics recital contest and the Ivanovo Readings conference organized by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus were held on the same day.

The main events took place on 2 September. They started with a ceremony to unveil a commemorative plaque Yanava Slova dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Belarusian Written Language Day. Minsk sculptors Ales Shatilo, Aleksei Sorokin and architect Anna Bogatkina created an original symbol of the holiday: a pen (a symbol of the language) in a marble bowl, the shadow of which falls on the sundial that shows the names of the cities that hosted the Belarusian Written Language Day. The festival continued in the municipal park with a theatrical event celebrating the native land and the National Literary Awards ceremony.

For the first time the celebrations spread all over the region. Visitors were welcomed at the Napoleon Orda Museum Complex in the village of Vorotsevichi and at the Motol Crafts Museum.

Most spectacular moments of the Belarusian Written Language Day celebrations in our photo report!