The best followers of the ideas of Russian enlightener Nikolai Rubakin were honoured at the National Centre RUSSIA
The final event of the first season of the nationwide N. A. Rubakin Book Prize, named after the outstanding Russian enlightener Nikolai Rubakin, was held on 21 December at the National Centre RUSSIA. Participants discussed the contribution of regional authors and small publishing houses to Russian science and shared their experience of engaging with non-fiction literature. The evening culminated in the award ceremony for the winners.
In an open discussion format, authors, publishers, and representatives of the academic community discussed how the work of regional authors and small publishing houses shapes the popular science environment across different parts of Russia and contributes to the development of scientific literature nationwide. The participants paid special attention to analysing the unique experience of regional scientific schools.
The origins of the Prize and the reasons for naming it after Nikolai Rubakin were explained by the event moderator, philosopher and sociologist, Professor at AlmaU University, Director of the Prize, and Head of Projects at the research company "Joy of Understanding", Alexander Vileikis, and by historian, philanthropist, and founder of the Prize, Nikita Tomilin.
"About a year ago, Nikita Tomilin proposed establishing this educational prize. Realising that this is an important and valuable mission that our country and society especially need today, we decided to name it after Nikolai Alexandrovich Rubakin — one of the first enlighteners in Russian science and society, a man who, at the beginning of the 20th century, long before all modern educational lectures and events, began teaching ordinary people book culture, creating it, making books engaging, clear, and accessible. That is why he is an incredibly close, important, and meaningful figure for us, and the ideals he pursued resonate strongly with us as a team and, I am sure, resonate with you as well," said Alexander Vileikis.
Representing the jury of the publishing nomination, public figure, blogger, and founder of the "Rare Books Publishing House", Kristina Potupchik, addressed the participants.
"I am sometimes asked why I founded a publishing house and a print magazine, and who needs printed publications or literary prizes in today’s world at all. But the first results of the Rubakin Prize have shown that many people do need them. Just look at the number of participants we have and at our excellent jury. And although it is still difficult to say what the Prize will grow into, a very strong community has already formed around it. When a large number of intelligent people come together, something interesting inevitably happens. I would like to wish all of us as many new talented authors, engaging books, and a multiple increase in the prize fund in the coming year," said Kristina Potupchik.
The Director General of the VCIOM Analytical Centre, Valery Fedorov, emphasised the importance of prizes for societal development.
"Prizes express the collective will of an authoritative community — publishers, readers, critics — and therefore reflect the values shared by that community. In turn, the act of awarding becomes a ritual of solidarity and, in some cases, competition among different groups that make up the literary system. For our sociological community, a literary prize is an important institution. It did not exist before, but now it does, and as a result more interesting and striking books are being published than in the past. I am very glad about this and believe that the Rubakin Prize is an excellent contribution to strengthening and, in a sense, even liberating our literary and reading community. I am confident that the next Prize will be even better, and in three to five years it will become a truly serious, strong, and compelling project that we will build together," said Valery Fedorov.
The N. A. Rubakin Prize includes three nominations — Author, Publisher, and a Special nomination established together with partners. In the Author nomination, the Grand Prix was awarded to Inessa Pleskachevskaya for the book "After the Revolutions. What Happened to Eastern Europe". Minor prizes in the nomination went to Vladimir Surdin ("Astronomy of Planetary Systems"), Maximilian Neapolitansky ("Who Invented the Earth? A Guide to Geophilosophy from Deleuze and Derrida to Agamben and Latour"), and Anastasia Khachaturova ("Life on Water. Unusual Homes of the World"), while the Audience Choice Awards went to Gayane Stepanyan ("From Bunin to Brodsky. Russian Literary Nobeliana") and Yelena Okhotnikova ("Dialogue of Modernism: Russia and Italy").
In the Publisher nomination, the winners were the publishing houses "Symposium" (St Petersburg) and "Northern Heritage" (Arkhangelsk).
The deadline for submitting an application for the Special nomination has been extended by one year, and the winners will be announced at the end of the second season of the Prize.
The annual N. A. Rubakin Book Prize brings together authors, publishers, researchers, and representatives of the academic community and is aimed at supporting Russian-language fundamental science.
The organiser of the Prize is the interregional public organisation "Sonador".
Event photobank
Guests of the National Centre RUSSIA took part in a workshop on festive table setting in the "a la russe" style.
While preparing for their debut, the children did not simply memorise texts, but also learned how to bring them to life and find their own individual style.
A warm and instructive theatrical production based on the legend of the well-known fairy-tale character from the Vologda region continued the programme of the "Winter Wizards" festival.
