Over 50 guests, 15,000 visitors and over 100 events in three cities of the region – these were the results of three days of the South Urals Book Fair and the #Ryzhy Fest All-Russian Literature Forum. The Satka platform of the festival was organized with the support of Magnezit Group and the Sobranie Fund. Among its guests on September 28 were the authors Asya Lavrinovich, Nadya Alekseeva, Nataly Smith, Darina Strelchenko and Falena Lysakova.

Before meeting the reading public of the Satka District, the guests visited the corporate museum, the viewing platforms and the Impulse complex of Magnezit Group, and took a brief tour of the town. By the way, Nadya Alekseeva refused to part with the gift of a magnesite sample she received: “It’s so beautiful and warm. I don’t want to let it out of my hands, so I’m carrying it in my pocket,” she said and put the rock on the table in front of her. A meeting with her and Asya Lavrinovich took place in the Central Library of Satka. They spoke about their work and answered questions from the audience.

Asya Lavrinovich is from Saint Petersburg. She writes novels about love in the young adult genre (also known as YA, literature for teenagers). The author became popular quite rapidly as her work was published on literary platforms Wattpad and Litnet. Over 700,000 copies of her books have been sold after the release of the first one – From One Hare – in 2019. In 2023, Asya won the Readers’ Choice award on Livelib. Movie-makers have bought the screen rights for the books Think of Love and Disfavor of the Gray-Eyed King (By the way, the movie based on the former is already available in the Okko online movie theater). Experts point out that the secret of the author’s popularity is her simple style and realistic stories of her characters, who resemble the readers themselves. Everyone who attended to meeting in the library found the same thing as well.

Nadya Alekseeva is from Moscow. She used to work in the IT industry, but at 30 she decided to change career and became a copywriter. One day, she received a gift of an online writing course, which put her on the path to writing her first book. Her memorable debut was the novel The Midnight Service (the author emphasized that it was the second syllable of the Russian title of the novel (Polunoshnitsa) that was stressed for the word to mean a religious service performed at midnight). Nadya took part in several literary awards with the novel. That was how she was noticed by Yelena Shubina, the publisher, who then invited Nadya to cooperate. At present, the author is preparing the novel Belgrade for publishing. During the meeting, the audience asked her to talk in more detail of how she became a writer, of her artistic quest, of Valaam where the author served as a volunteer at the monastery and where she started working on the Midnight Service.

The Art-Satka hosted a public talk for a young audience about YA-literature. School pupils, college students, participants and managers of literary associations of the district met with Nataly Smith (Saint Petersburg, a member of Children’s and Youth Writers Union, the author of Baba Yaga’s Blog, the author of science fiction and fantasy books and fairy tales for adults), Darina Strelchenko (from Moscow, but her sole and topics are about Udmurtia where she was born; literary genres: Ya-realism and fantasy (urban and folklore fantasy, magic realism, soft science fiction); the finalist of the competitions “New Fantasy” and “New Children’s Book”), and Falena Lysakova (Donetsk, a member of the Writers’ Union of Russia; favorite genres: magic realist, urban fantasy, fairy tales for adults).

As they answered questions from young authors, the guests shared their experience of dealing with a writer’s block, and told their audience where they first published their works and how they became successful in literature.

“It’s been a long time since I realized there was no such thing as inspiration. Writing is work. Sometimes, it’s just doesn’t work out. Ideas don’t come. But I’m trying to write every day, whether I feel like it or not. I just sit down and write, and little-by-little it all comes together and writing starts going well,” Falena said. Nataly added that watching TV series is a good reset to her, since, apart from giving her some rest and distraction, also gives some ideas. Reading books also does that, e.g. Afanasyev’s collected folk tales. “There’s nothing you can’t find there: things that make you giggle and things that make you blush up to your ears,” the author noted.

“It’s like you’re on a ski track, when you can’t move anymore, but you have to move forward, even by crawling, even if very, very slowly. The thing is that you will get your second wind in a few minutes, and you will go on running,” Darina added.

The guests recommended that young authors took part in communities on social media to receive some advice, feedback from readers and professionals (e.g. the group Urban Fairy Tales and the podcasts Text Doctor and A Head of Cabbage per Author’s Sheet on VK), where author’s sheets (print units) can be posted. Another important thing is to always learn: read and re-read your favorite authors and specialized publications (e.g. Polish Me Up. Your Text by Yekaterina Zvontsova), participate in contests, take writing courses. All this will help you write and promote your work.

“In the book world, quite a lot depends on yourself. You may be a super genius, with nobody knowing that. But if you are talking about yourself, posting your work online, competing in contests, participating in writers’ marathons, book fairs, talk shows and other activities, your name becomes familiar, you meet people and develop contacts. This way, someone will always think of you at the right time. All in all, a writer should take care of their PR because nobody is going to do your PR work for you,” summarized the guests, after which they shared information on their social media groups and Telegram channels with everyone interested.

FOR INFORMATION:

The South Ural Book Fair and the #Ryzhy Fest All-Russian Literature Forum are large-scale and unique events in Chelyabinsk Oblast, which get together writers, publishers and book lovers. Platforms of the festival annually host lectures, discussions, master-classes, public talks, creative labs, one-man shows, and movie screenings. Residents of the region get the chance to talk to their favorite authors, ask their questions and hear experts’ opinions on trends in literature.

There is a program for other cities of the region for South Ural residents who can’t go to Chelyabinsk. Satka welcomed guests of the festival this year again, while Kasli did it for the first time.

Organizers of the project: the Journalists Union of Chelyabinsk Oblast and the Chelyabinsk Oblast Universal Scientific Library, with the support from the Ministry of Culture of the region and the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.

Source: Magnezitovets. Photo by: Vasily Maksimov