United Press at Moscow Book Festival

The publisher United Press conducted two events at the recent Fifth International Open Book Festival held at the Central House of Artists in Moscow.

A roundtable was held on June 13 to discuss the question: Is it shameful to love pop culture? Taking part were Afisha (Billboards) editorial director Yury Saprykin, Novy Mir (New World) Editor-in-Chief Andrei Visilyevsky, psychotherapist Mark Sandomirsky, philosopher and art historian Oleg Aronson, philosopher and social activist Kirill Martynov as well as translator and classical philology specialist Lyubov Summ. Participants began with a discussion of Dr. Chaos, then shifted to the Shkola (School), Dom-2 (Home-2) and Bezumtsy (Madmen) programs, compared Dr. Chaos to Ilya Muromets, spoke about the culture of snobbism, tried to portray trendsetters in a true light and finished by discussing the health of domestic media projects.

A teleconference was held on June 14 with the most modern and charming modern thinker, the author of The Joy and Sorrow of Work (to be released in July) – Alain de Botton. Vedomosti Commentary section editor and Yale University scholar Maxim Trudolyubov chaired the meeting. Botton told guests his opinion on the “big” issues in the arts, the social role of the writer and what work means for the modern individual.