Book exhibition “Russian Laureates of Nobel Prize in Literature” and Day of Reading at VFU
This year the traditional marathon of reading, dedicated to the international World Book and Copyright Day, was given its official start at VFU “Chernorizets Hrabar”.
The organisers of the Day of Reading initiative, the Russian Centre and the university library, invited all book lovers to read extracts from their favourite works, in the original languages they had been written. Over 70 people accepted the invitation – students and lecturers of VFU, foreign students from Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Nigeria, library staff and guests from the regional Varna library.
As the event was dedicated to the Year of Literature in Russia, the beginning was marked by opening of the book exhibition “Russian Laureates of Nobel Prize in Literature”. The methodologist of the Russian Centre Mariela Koycheva told interesting facts about the Nobel Prize itself, and about the five Russian writers and poets who had received it – Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1933), Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1958), Mihail Aleksandrovich Sholohov (1965), Alexandr Isaevich Solzhenitsin (1970) and Joseph Aleksandrovich Brodski (1987). The exhibition of their works was organised by the university library. The library director, Ms. Maria Minkova, thanked the audience for their interest, and shared her belief that Russian literature is among the greatest world cultural achievements. The students enjoyed the exhibition and said that they had learned interesting facts about the Nobel Prize in literature and the Russian laureates.
After the exhibition was opened, the reading marathon took place. This year the participants had chosen works by famous authors in Bulgarian, Russian, German, English, Turkish, Spanish, Igbo – one of Nigeria’s languages, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Kazakh. The audience applauded the unusual presentation of „К А.П.Керн“ by Pushkin, read by М.Kamenov (majoring in Psychology), G. Dimitrov (majoring in National Security Protection) and О. Dobreva (majoring in Psychology) in three languages – Russian, English and Bulgarian.
The participants read works by Rhonda Byrne, P. Yavorov, Ahmet Kaya, Francisco de Quevedo, W. Wordsworth, R. Browning, W. Shakespeare, Ch. Aitmatov, Ivan Vasov, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry etc. The students from China read works by Chinese authors and their own translations in English, and the students from Nigeria added a musical touch to the event – they decided to sing the words of the poems in their own language. A memorable reading of Ivan Vazov’s poem “Russia” by Nikita Zubiyashvili won the admiration of the audience.
The chief librarian of the regional library “Pencho Slaveykov”, Ms. Mariyana Gineva presented certificates to the Director of the Russian Centre Prof. Galina Shamonina, PhD, and to the Director of the university library Ms. Maria Minkova, for the organization of the event, the support and the personal engagement of Varna Free University in the promotion of reading and books.
All participants received a book as a present from the university library.
