The events of the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum took place in the Presidential Library

The Presidential Library is receiving the participants of the Third Annual Conference focused on “Book Policy of the Regions,” in course of which the prizewinners and laureates of the “The Most Reading Region” All-Russian Contest were awarded and “The Literary Flagship of Russia” in 2017 was announced.

The events became part of the official program of the VI St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. Head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications Mikhail Seslavinsky, St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, President of the Russian Book Union Sergey Stepashin, and the heads of regional authorities of the Russian Federation attended the event.

Director General of the Presidential Library Alexander Vershinin has emphasized in his welcoming speech the high importance of reading these days: “The book remains one of the most important means of cognition, education, acquiring and upbringing. The Imperative of the Presidential Library is not only “to read,” but also “to listen” and “to look.” We digitize the most diverse documents — the paperback, the archival, and the museum. For their representation, we use audiovisual and telecommunication technologies. Mikhail Seslavinsky, in turn, added: “The digital environment just helps to maintain the book, making it even more accessible to readers.”

It was emphasized that the Presidential Library has actively participated in organizing of the “Book Policy of the Regions” III Annual Conference, engaging with it the heads of the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

In 2017, St. Petersburg was named the most reading region. The governor of the city Georgy Poltavchenko received a prize for “The Literary Flagship of Russia.” He observed: “the cultural capital of our country has become now the literary capital city of the Russian Federation, so it can be said that apart from the great writers, who were creating in St. Petersburg, there are the great readers, who reside here.”

Sergei Stepashin drew attention to the fact that “the book in St. Petersburg is on the a special place. There are nine bookstores on Nevsky Prospect. I do not know any other city where the book products were represented in such volume on the main street.”

Georgy Poltavchenko also informed that in 2020 St. Petersburg plans to apply for participation in the UNESCO competition for appointing “The Book Capital of the World.”

The domain www.petersburg.ru was officially handed over to St. Petersburg for administration in the course of this event, and the ceremony of signing an agreement between the Committee for Informatization and Communication and the company Mail.ru Group also took place in the Presidential Library.