Eighth ‘Red Square’ Book Festival: June 3–6
This year, the grand literary event is taking place for the eighth time. It brings together writers, poets, publishers, librarians, musicians, and, of course, tens of thousands of readers. Two speakers from HSE University are delivering lectures on urban studies. The Fish Week festival on Manezhnaya offers snacks near the book festival.
Over 300 publishers from 50 Russian regions will present their books at the event. Alongside major publishing houses from Moscow and St Petersburg, smaller publishers from many Russian regions will also present their unique, limited-edition publications. The book festival features an Ethnic Literature Festival that will introduce readers to the hidden gems of Russia’s regional and ethnic literatures. On June 6, the book festival will come to an end with the traditional Pushkin Day.
Entrance to Red Square is free. No registration is required.
- 13 stages
- Over 300 publishers
- 50 Russian regions
- Over 500 events
- Over 100,000 books on sale
Main Stage
The main stage programme features literary award ceremonies, theatre performances, concerts, and meetings with writers. A total of 30 events are set to take place on the main stage during the four days of the festival.
Non-Fiction
This section of the festival features the participation of over 120 publishers, literature museums and cultural foundations. The programme includes meetings with popular non-fiction writers.
Fiction
100 new book presentations, over 40 top authors, the results of literary competitions, young adult literature and the best contemporary works.
Academic Lecture Centre
This tent will host lectures on space, ecology, self-consciousness, and artificial intelligence in which scholars, cosmonauts, and doctors will talk about the latest news from global and Russian science.
Comics
This year marks the first appearance of the Comics zone at the ‘Red Square’ festival, which has new comics for all kinds of readers—adults, teenagers, and families with toddlers.
Russian Regions
Russian Regions is an opportunity to travel across the vast country without ever leaving Red Square. Fifty publishers from numerous Russian regions will be there to introduce Moscow’s readers to books that they would never find in the capital’s bookstores.
HSE University Participation
Leading experts from the HSE Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism will discuss recent urban studies (in Russian).
- June 4. ‘Imaginary Spaces in Books and Life’ by Kirill Puzanov. Learn more and register.
- June 5. ‘Urban Environment: Mine and Ours’ by Oleg Bayevsky. Learn more and register.
See the detailed programme of the ‘Red Square’ book festival on the official website (in Russian).
Fish Week: Until June 5
Visitors of the book festival can also grab a snack at the Fish Week festival, which is taking place right next to Red Square near the Four Seasons Hotel. It features booths from Moscow fish restaurants with open fire cookers that offer all kinds of fish and seafood street food: soups, burgers, grilled fish, paella, and more.
