The non-commercial organization, “Pushkin in Britain”, submitted its report on organizing the 7th International Festival of Russian Poetry and Culture – “Pushkin in Britain”. The project was realized within the framework of the grant program of the Russkiy Mir Foundation and with support of Rossotrudnichestvo federal agency, the Embassy of Great Britain in Russia and the Russian Embassy in Great Britain.
This festival has been held annually since 2003. Its purpose is to introduce British society to the creative work of young Russian poets living beyond Russian borders and publishing their works in Russian, and to improve the prestige of their native language among the Russian-speaking youth of foreign countries.
From March to June 2009, a jury reviewed the works submitted for the competition – 177 manuscripts from 26 countries. Traditionally, only works of authors living outside Russia were admitted, but since 2009, its organizers decided to involve participants from Russia as well. The first region to take part became the Ivanovo Oblast, where they a preliminary poetic competition was held. Its winner received the right to compete for the title of “King of Poets” in the final competition held in London.
The final round of the competition saw a total number of 35 authors from 13 countries (USA, Germany, Israel, Great Britain, Moldova, Peru, Ukraine, Portugal, France, Italy, Canada, Russia and Byelorussia). Poems of the interim round winners were published in a separate volume of poetic works in both English and Russian languages. This book was presented before the final round of the competition held in London.
Another novelty of 2009 was the tournament in poetic translation held in cooperation with the “Foreign Literature” magazine. Poets competed in the translation of a W. Shakespeare’s sonnet from the poem “Sonnets to various musical notes” that had never been translated into Russian before.
The program of the 2009 festival was declared at the official reception given at the British Embassy in Moscow on April 8, 2009. The reception was opened by a speech of the British Ambassador to Russia, Mrs. Ann Pringle.
Guests of the reception were shown a film on the festival history and saw the presentation of a new project by Oleg Borushko, “Boldino Autumn in Odessa,” among them such well-known artists as poetess Bella Akhmadulina and writer Yuri Poliakov, members of the Russian government, Rossotrudnichestvo federal agency, Russkiy Mir Fund, B. Yeltsin Fund, leaders of the British Council, Russian and British Chambers of Commerce.
The London portion of the “Pushkin in Britain” Festivals began with a reception at the Russian Embassy on June 4, 2009 with the presence of the Russian Ambassador, Yuri Fedotov, and was concluded by a competition in impromptu poetry and parodies during a river excursion, organized for its participants.
The winner of the International poetry contest was Natalia Maximova from Great Britain, with Elena Petrova from France taking the second place, and Mikhail Yudovsky from Germany the third. In the of poetic translation tournament, the first three positions were taken by Andrey Olear (Russia), Yuri Sapozhkov (Byelorussia) and Natalia Reznik (the USA).
In addition to the poetry competitions, a traditional Russo-British roundtable conference on “Pushkin and Shakespeare” was held, featuring a speech by Sir Anthony Brenton, the former British Ambassador to Russia in 2004-2008.
On the last day of the festival, June 8, 2009 the official opening ceremony of the Russian Center took place at the Russo-British cultural center – the “Pushkin House.”
The Russkiy Mir Foundation has been sponsoring the “Pushkin in Britain” Project since 2008, within the framework of the program for preservation and popularization of Russian cultural heritage abroad, and sees this as an important contribution in creating a common humanitarian space of the Russian world.
