Society and Reading: Literary festival to open in Tobolsk

July 18 – 22, 2018 Tobolsk is running the first literary festival “Siberian Ipokrena”. Ipokrena — is a name of the spring on Mount Helicon, which emerged when the Pegasus hit it with its hoof. According to Ancient Greek legends, the one who drank Ipokrena water became poetically-gifted. In 1789 the first Siberian literary magazine “The Irtysh becoming Ipokrena” was printed in Tobolsk in the printing house of the merchant Kornilyev.

Residents and visitors of the city will have a chance to attend over 50 various literary events. The festival will bring together writers, poets, playwrights, literary critics and publishers. 

The main venue will be at the Tobolsk Kremlin, right there the book fair will be mounted. The square at “The Siberian Pearl” shopping center and the Garden of Yermak will be the festival’s other two venues. For convenience there will be a free bus running between two venues.

Aiming to unveil new book formats the festival will launch a contest of book trailers and a literary pitching.