Reading marathon at Varna Free University to celebrate the world book day and 450 years of Shakespeare’s birth
A reading marathon was organized by the Department of Foreign Language Teaching, the Russian Centre and the university library – the spiritual centre at VFU “Chernorizets Hrabar”. This year the traditional celebrations we were given an unconventional start in the university’s East Park, with positive emotions and shared memories of favourite books.
The marathon continued in the Russian Centre of VFU “Chernorizets Hrabar”, where the participants read excerpts from their favourite books, in different languages and translations.
Participants in the celebrations included students from different majors: Architecture, Psychology, International Relations and Law, Counteraction to Crime and Public Order Protection, Management of Projects Financed by EU Funds (Master) and foreign students in their preparatory year. The participants not only read excerpts from Shakespeare’s works, but also talked about the translations of the great poet’s works into Bulgarian, rendered by acclaimed figures in Bulgarian literature and culture, such as one of the first mayors of Varna, Krastyo Mirski and the great poet Valeri Petrov.
Among the works and authors presented at the event were texts by Pushkin, Jorge Bucay, Molière, Exupéry, Ivan Krilov, Stephen King, Santa Teresa de Jesús, Joanne Rowling, Jane Austin, Heinrich Heine, Gabriel García Márquez.
The guests enjoyed a variety of languages – English, Russian, French, Spanish, Bulgarian. Among the most memorable readings were the sayings and poems in Chinese, read by Yozlem Sadkova, Ivan Enimanev and Kiki Chohu – some of the students in the first course in Chinese, organized by the Department of Foreign Language Teaching.
Another highlight of the event was a presentation by Svetlana Suhova, who presented the poem “There is such a lake…” not in her native Russian, but in her own translation into Bulgarian.
An impressive performance was given by Dzhuinet Shaban, a 4-year student majoring in International Business Management, who read an excerpt from Heine and wonderful translations in three languages – English, Russian and Bulgarian.
With words about his work and a short story translated into Bulgarian was honoured the recently deceased Columbian writer Gabriel García Márquez.
A special guest of the traditional marathon was Emilia Milkova, PhD, - Director of the Pencho Slaveikov regional library in Varna. She presented the Department of Foreign Language Teaching and the university library with certificates for their support and personal involvement in the cause to popularize books and reading.
