From the 24^th to the 26^th of February, Riga hosted the International Latvian Book Fair 2017, where Russia took part as the guest of honor. The Russian national exhibition stand was given a central location in Hall 1 at the Ķīpsala International Exhibition Center and presented about 1000 titles from more than 10 leading Russian publishing houses, including The Higher School of Economics Publishing House.

More than 30 well-known Russian authors met their readers and presented their books. Among the participants of the opening ceremony were the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation Michail Shvydkoy and the Deputy Director of the Federal Press and Mass Communications Agency Vladimir Grigoriev, as well as authors, publishers and other representatives of Russian art community. The biggest Latvian retailer of Russian books “Janus”, whose stand was next to ours, was selling Russian books specially delivered to the fair. The books were in great demand. Although in Riga you can hear Russian speakers at every turn, it’s not at all easy to find books by Russian publishers.

Events at Moscow House, the Latvian University’s Department of Russian and Slavic Studies and N. Zadornov Library, which hosted the Russian Reading Marathon, were timed to coincide with the fair. Students, academicians, librarians and the authors themselves were reading fragments in Russian from books by Evgeny Vodolazkin, Maya Koucherskaya and Vladimir Pozner.

After the fair, all the books from the national stand will be donated to Latvian libraries and cultural centers. HSE Publishing House books were also given to the libraries of the Baltic International Academy and the Latvian University’s Department of Russian and Slavic Studies.