Where to go for new taste experiences? Writer Yulia Evdokimova will tell at a meeting organized together with the Directorate “Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature.”

Yulia Evdokimova is a travel blogger, winner of the Russian Detective Award 2022 and the author of 13 bestsellers, in which she masterfully combines travel notes, amazing facts from history and local recipes for food and drinks.
The meeting was organized jointly with the directorate of the “Ulyanovsk – UNESCO City of Literature” program. Since 2015, the directorate has been holding events with the participation of writers and poets to promote educational ideas and maintain citizens’ interest in reading.
Yulia Evdokimova’s life is connected with Ulyanovsk, so the writer will be glad to meet her fellow countrymen. The author will present the book “Taste Milan. Ladies, cocktails and golden risotto" and the bestseller "To Russia with love! In search of silence, sunrises and emerald jam.” Anyone can ask questions, get an autograph and get lots of ideas for new travels!

You will learn:
• which destinations are ideal for gastronomic tourism,
• where to go for the May holidays in Russia,
• how to create an Italian atmosphere at home with a couple of dishes,
• what recipes of Russian cuisine can capture the imagination of even a Michelin-starred chef.

The meeting will take place on April 11 at 19.00 at the “Read-Gorod” bookstore at the address: Ulyanovsk, st. Iron Division, 6. Participation is free, everyone is invited!

Created in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) fosters international cooperation across cities of the world that invest in culture and creativity as accelerators of sustainable development. Through seven creative fields – Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music – cities in the Network are innovative and strategic with a large scope of initiatives that have positive economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts.

Together with its almost 300 cities worldwide, the UCCN aims to fulfil the enabling and transformative power of culture and creativity in building cities that are resilient, sustainable and future-proof, thus supporting the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  на официальном сайте ЮНЕСКО (здесь) at the local level. . 

Interested cities are encouraged to submit their applications using the official standard Form by 30 June 2023 (midnight CET).

The 2023 UCCN Call for Applications is open to cities from all UNESCO Member States and Associate Members.

To learn more, you may access the documents on the official UNESCO website and find out what is required and what it entails to become a UNESCO Creative City.

For reference: The UNESCO Creative Cities Network has been operating since 2004. Russia is represented by four cities: Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature (since 2015), Kazan - UNESCO City of Music, Kargopol - UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art, St. Petersburg - City of Gastronomy. Network members promote urban development strategies through the creative sector, implement projects and programs in the field of designation, collaborate and share their best practices. The joint implementation of initiatives is designed to enhance the positive economic, social and cultural impact on cities.

Directorate of the program “Ulyanovsk – UNESCO Literary City” - participant of the XXX Minsk International Book Exhibition-Fair

The largest event in the field of literature and book publishing takes place from March 22 to 26. This year Russia became the honorary guest of the fair.

2023 has been declared in the CIS as the Year of the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication. The Russian program of events is dedicated to the richest Russian cultural and literary heritage. It was demonstrated at the “Books from Russia” stand
The experience of Ulyanovsk, as a city of the UNESCO creative network, in the field of literary development is presented at the collective stand “Books from Russia”.
 

Anyone could see how modern the new generation of libraries are in Ulyanovsk, learn about the International Writers' Residence project, cooperation with writers from other countries, and the uniqueness of Ulyanovsk literary magazines.
More than 60 events are taking place on two stages of the Russian stand until March 26: book presentations, meetings with Russian and Belarusian authors, discussions, round tables, literary readings and public talks. 16 Russian writers and poets will perform at the exhibition.
 

On March, 21 at the invitation of the city of Granada and the UNESCO Creative Cities Network,  Ulyanovsk joined the World Poetry Day 2023 celebration.

At the international level, the event is aimed at strengthening global partnerships for sustainable development. Citizens actively participated in the event. The celebration took place in Aquamall shopping center, in Chitai Gorod, a popular bookstore. The participants recited poems in Turkish, Russian, French, English, Kazakh, Belarusian, Uzbek and Tamil.

Turkey, Canada, France, Kazakhstan and Belarus contributed to the celebration by sending us video greetings in their native languages. The
representatives shared the beauty of their countries' poetry with the participants.Kahramanmarash is a city applying to join the UNESCO Creative Network. In a poem by the Turkish poet Benjamin, the topic of sustainability is highlighted: overcoming the crisis caused by the recent earthquakes.

Indian students attending a university in Ulyanovsk took part in the event and told the participants about their culture. During the WPD'23 celebration they had an opportunity to see and understand the life in our city through poetry. This is how we achieve sustainability at the local level and unite representatives of different peoples.

Students of the Institute of International Relations and representatives of the Alliance Française-Ulyanovsk school recited English, French and German poetry with translations into Russian.
Russian poetry was represented by the best works of Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova, Sergei Yesenin, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and others. The participants recited poems by Nikolai Blagov, a poet born in Ulyanovsk. He was considered to be one of the five most influential Russian poets at the end of the 20th century.

This international project united UNESCO Creative Cities. The World Poetry Day was also celebrated in 11 UNESCO Cities of Literature:  Dunedin, Durban, Granada, Heidelberg,Melbourne, Milan, Nanjing, Nottingham, Seattle, Tartu and Wonju. The goal of this international project is to encourage linguistic diversity through poetic self-expression and to
support endangered languages through poetry.

On March, 16 an international conference between the cities of Ulyanovsk, Russia and Kahramanmaraş, Turkey took place. During a 2-hour long conversation, the participants shared their best practices in the field of literature. The cities discussed global role of literature as a creative driver for development of municipalities. Ulyanovsk gave the representatives of Kahramanmaraş some recommendations regarding the UCCN Application process.

The Turkish team of speakers was led by Duran Doğan, Director of Culture, Tourism and Sports Department of the capital municipality of Kahramanmaraş, Chair of the UNESCO City of Literature Application Committee. Kahramanmaraş wishes to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Literature. This year, the city is preparing to resubmit its application, and has turned to the Directorate of the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature program for expert opinion.

Olga Slepova, Director of the Centralized Library System of Ulyanovsk and Elena Cherkas, Head of the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature Directorate noted that in Ulyanovsk the work on the application was comprehensive, discussions were conducted with the participation of representatives of the municipality, creative business, scientists, non-profit organizations in the field of culture. This approach allowed to see a perspective of how to develop the city through creative fields.

During the conversation, the cities shared their experience in developing creative fields and, first of all, the field of literature. The participants discussed the International Writers' Residence, the work of the Literary Tram, the Crossroads festival, etc. The dialogue made it possible to determine the areas of common interest of the two cities - helping citizens overcome crisis situations with the help of literature and creativity in general.

In February, earthquakes in Turkey took the lives of almost 50 thousand people, with thousands of people losing their homes and loved ones. Colleagues launched a social project to help victims get through loss with reading books and writing diaries. The project’s goal is to help people cope with difficult events. Ulyanovsk highlighted the importance of the project. Olga Slepova noted that during the COVID, UNESCO Cities of Literature helped children cope with self-isolation through creative projects. Colleagues from Kahramanmaraş use books to help townspeople emotionally and psychologically overcome the consequences of the tragedy.

The projects of Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature unite the fields literature, history, tourism and sports, and the colleagues from Turkey found that very valuable. Elena Cherkas spoke about the adaptation of foreign students, who get their degree in Ulyanovsk universities. That project allows young people from India to fit into modern Ulyanovsk and helps the students discover the literary, historical, and tourist features of the city.

The outcome of the meeting was an agreement on further mutual cooperation. Representatives of the city of Kahramanmaraş will take part in the World Poetry Day project and will read poetry in Turkish via video link. The Directorate will also continue to support Turkish colleagues in their desire to become part of the UCCN.

Indian youth took part in the Heritage of Folk Cultures exhibition event that took place in the Ulyanovsk Centralized Library System on March,
11. 

The event is a result of cooperation of the city administration and the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature team and it's goal is to achieve social adaptation of foreign students. 

ndian students tried on Tatar headdresses – tyubeteika and kalfak, and looked through some books. The participants got acquainted with Russian, Chuvash, Tatar, Mordovian ornaments, nesting dolls and household items - for example, with aspindle. Many of the exhibits foreigners saw for the first time. These were musical instruments - accordion, tambourine, balalaika. The guests tried playing accordion and had a beautiful opportunity to get closer to the Volga region culture.Meeting with Xiang Bo, Consul General of China, Took Place in Kazan 

Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature Team Went to Kazan to Take Part in the Meeting with Xiang Bo, Consul General of China. 

Mr.Xiang Bo visited Ulyanovsk on March 10 and held a meeting with teachers and foreign students of Ulyanovsk State University. 

Xiang Bo spoke about cooperation and interaction in the field of education, tourism and culture. The Consul General stressed that it is necessary to maintain and develop partnership relations between Russia and China, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated.

Elena Cherkas, head of the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature  program, talked with Mr. Xiang Bo about the development of UNESCO cities - there are 16 creative cities in China, and Nanjing is the UNESCO City of Literature. The result of the business meeting was an exchange of contacts. The Consul General noted that the friendship between Russia and China opens up new opportunities for cooperation.

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Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature celebrated Holi Festival with Indian students as a part of social adaptation project.

Indian students studying in UlSU celebrated a bright Indian holiday Holi. 

Holi is a celebration of spring, Bengali New Year that symbolizes the end of cold and the beginning of warm weather. In 2016 UNESCO included the celebration of the Bengali New Year in a list of intangible cultural heritage. Holi is celebrated during the day of the full moon in the Hindu calendar. This year it took place on March, 8.
On that day it is a tradition to sprinkle each other with colored powders. In the afternoon the students celebrated Holi applying colorful paint to their faces and having fun.  

In the evening a video conference Ulyanovsk-Deli (Russia-India) was held. There, Representative of the New Era.Education, Indian Educational Institute, Dr. Kumar Dharmendra delivered a welcoming speech. He sent his best wishes to everyone celebrating International Women's Day and Holi. Dr. Kumar expressed his gratitude to the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature program team for working on the social adaptation of Indian students and noted the fruitfulness of this cooperation. In turn, the team of the program stated that the plans include a variety of events and excursions that will continue to acquaint foreigners with Ulyanovsk and neighboring regions. 

Then Indian youth danced to their favorite Indian music. About 250 people took part in the events that day.

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On March 5, Ulyanovsk poet and art manager, head of the Kvartal city creative space, head of the ABSURDUS theater Pavel Soldatov introduced the audience to the best examples of Mexican poetry

That evening, poems by Amado Nervo, Enrique Gonzalez Martinez, Octavio Paz, Jaime Sabines, Max Aub, Jaime Torres Bodet, Margarita Paz Paredes were recited.
Pavel chose the immersion performance format, where everyone could participate in improvised miniatures. Poetry was combined with music that evening - the verses were accompanied by the improvisation of the musician Yevgeny Tereshenok, who creates music in the noise/shoegaze genre. This brought the creative heritage of Mexican poets closer to the youth audience.

Daria Fokina, representative of the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature  program team, attended the event. This experience was a great opportunity to get acquainted with innovative methods of organizing modern literary events. We thank Pavel Soldatov for his special creative vision and wish him success.

фото: дирекция "Ульяновск-литературный город ЮНЕСКО",

сообщество Арт-эклектика.