The results of the XII Book Festival "Red Square" have been summed up

The final day of the XII Red Square Book Festival gathered the largest queues at the book presentation tents. Their new works were presented by both regular participants of the book festival — Evgeny Vodolazkin, Daria Dontsova, Zakhar Prilepin, Sergey Shargunov, Margarita Simonyan, and the "debutants" of the festival — singer and showman Shura (Alexander Medvedev), as well as TV presenter and poet Leonid Yakubovich. People's Artist Svetlana Kryuchkova also presented her new poetic program.

The superfinal of the XV anniversary international competition of young readers "Living Classics" took place on the "Main Stage", in which six finalists from Russia and six from Tajikistan, Belarus, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates took part. Schoolchildren from 10 to 17 years old recited excerpts from their favorite prose right on Red Square. The best readers of 2026: Dushanbiev Khushnud (Tajikistan), Kashtanov Semyon (Voronezh region) and Fenchenko Polina (Kaluga Region). The reading was evaluated by theater and film actor, reader of the Moscow State Philharmonic Ivan Kokorin, theater and film actress Anastasia Krylova, actor Anton Kukushkin, children's writer Elena Usacheva, head of the Talantino children's acting agency Tatyana Bystritskaya, director of the All-Russian Pushkin Museum Olga Korneva and writer Alexey Varlamov.

Writer Evgeny Vodolazkin traditionally gathered one of the largest audiences with his presentation and autograph session at the Festival. His new work is a detective story, a book that cannot be spoiled, said Alexey Varlamov, a writer and rector of the Gorky Literary Institute, who led the meeting. Therefore, the discussion was not so much about the plot as about the style of presentation, which was not peculiar to the author.

The plot of Vodolazkin's new novel is built like a detective story and takes place in modern St. Petersburg. A scientist who has been researching artificial intelligence is being killed. Major Chistov is investigating the murder, and he is assisted by a lieutenant whose weakness is literature. The major is a kind of philosopher who asks questions during the investigation.: "Why are they looking for the corpse of a murdered man, but not for his soul?" "An author and a narrator are not the same thing,— said Evgeny Vodolazkin. "I don't sound like Lieutenant Vedernikov." This had to be clarified due to the fact that some reviewers of the book were surprised by the language of the presentation.

"People want to take the shortest path to the truth, but I tortured them, dragged them through philosophies, and it seems to me that it was not useless. I really love and, most importantly, respect the reader and try to write in different codes. And here it is a conscious intention," the author said. "Mayakovsky's poems arose from an inarticulate hum, but mine also came from an inarticulate hum."

At the same time, according to the author, he does not take offense at criticism. Because criticism, unlike many other fields of activity, is an emotional phenomenon rather than an intellectual one, and its peculiarity lies in the fact that significant arguments are usually not given.

Margarita Simonyan, a journalist and media manager, presented her novel "In the beginning there was a Word, in the end there will be a Number" on the "Main Stage."

This is a story about how humanity can be saved — even on the edge of a digital apocalypse, says the author. The novel is about the victory of love over destruction, the immortality of the spirit, and the fact that faith, love, and the word itself are eternal. Critics have called it a dystopia, but Margarita Simonyan herself does not agree with this.

"Despite the fact that this is called an eschatological dystopia, I believe that this is more of a utopia than a dystopia — everything ends well," the writer concluded.

On the final day of the Festival, Zakhar Prilepin also presented a new book to the readers. "Foreign Kingdom" is a collection of articles that sheds light on the ideological history of Russia and the struggle between "left" and "right" political forces. At the sold-out meeting, Zakhar Prilepin answered questions from the audience about his vision of the country's fate, as well as future challenges and prospects. The autograph session of the writer lasted more than 5 hours!

Nikolai Dolgopolov, a journalist and intelligence historian, presented the publication "Foreign Intelligence Service. Moments and Destinies", which can be called the chronicle of Russian foreign intelligence. The book contains 69 portraits of intelligence officers by Nikas Safronov and 70 stories about the main business of each of the characters. Many of them are illegal immigrants who have been working for years away from their homeland under false names.

"This couple was perfect for compatibility, they only worked together. The total length of their stay abroad is 118 years as illegal immigrants. Nikas was given a photo of them, and he couldn't separate them, he took one portrait, and I wrote two essays," said Nikolai Dolgopolov. According to him, the main principle of a person who writes about intelligence is "do no harm." "In no case should we allow inaccuracy, so that at the moment something that should not come out comes out." The youngest scout mentioned in the book is born in 1955. And so far, only a small part of their fascinating biographies can be revealed about many of the characters.

Those who were interested in challenging AI and comparing the texts of the finalists of the International Independent Literary Award "Glagolitsa" with the creation of the neural network gathered on the "Children's Stage". In the intellectual battle "Glagolitic. The Battle of Meanings" was attended by the ambassador of the International Independent Literary Award "Glagolitsa", Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, artistic director of the Theater of Growth in Tsaritsyno Nonna Grishaeva, writer Vladislav Otroshenko, winner of the award "Glagolitsa" in the nomination "Prose in Russian" Hassan Kochiev, head of the program "Digital Skills and competencies" of the Contribution to the Future Foundation" Renat Iskaziev, writer and journalist Nadezhda Azhgikhina. The meeting participants agreed that, despite the development of technology, human-written text is characterized by awareness and depth, while artificial intelligence creates an impeccably smooth, averaged "information bubble."

The children and their parents were then presented the program "A Great journey through the orchestra of Russian folk Instruments with conductor Uncle Dima." The L.G. Zykina State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble Rossiya, under the artistic direction of Professor Dmitry Dmitrienko, Honored Artist of Russia, gave young listeners a lesson in playing folk instruments: domra, balalaika, accordion and harp.

The discussion "Book festivals in the economy of attention" took place at the XII Red Square Book Festival.: how an event turns into a demand for books", which brought together publishers, representatives of book networks, digital services and organizers of the largest industry events at the Future of Books site. Experts discussed whether book festivals affect book sales, why people come to the festival, and what is important to consider when holding large industry events in order to retain readers.

As Elena Grebeneva, General Director of the Directorate of International Book Exhibitions and Fairs, noted, now a book competes for attention not only with another book, but also with short videos, TV series, social networks, digital services and a continuous stream of content.

Analysts assessed user mentions and engagement on social networks, on echo sites and forums, as well as on Yandex Maps, and concluded that major book events have a noticeable impact on the agenda. "The Russian book calendar is indeed filled with new events every year, and these are not only large-scale events, but also various regional book festivals, book fairs, and some small local book events. And direct sales at festivals do make up a small share of the book market, which is normal, while the information field of the festivals themselves becomes just the starting point. Book festivals are the most powerful tool for book branding and for the author's brand," said Tatiana Golovanova, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Brand Analytics.

Posts about books on social networks show high engagement, therefore, influencer marketing becomes mandatory to promote the book, and, as analysts note, you will have to cooperate even with those bloggers who do not write about books.

According to Evgeny Kapiev, CEO of Eksmo Publishing House, after the festival, the publishing house has hundreds of millions of social media coverage. However, the financial effect is negative: "We don't make money at festivals, because construction is usually very expensive: rent, logistics, we have to sell at low prices because everyone goes online. Therefore, book festivals are unprofitable for us. If you do not take into account the delayed PR effect. This is the company's investment in the development of the book market, in the promotion of authors and reading. But in any case, I believe that book festivals are an extremely important element of the book industry. Why? Because every such bright event draws attention to books."

According to Tatiana Solovyeva, director of the development of the Stroki book service, there is no rivalry at all between books, cinema and theater.: "Today we are sponsors of entertainment for our readers and viewers. And we try to attract them as much as possible to the fact that we create some unique content. Whether it's a book, a meeting with the author, a TV series, or a film adaptation. When we talk about competition, we will talk about extinction."