The meeting with the first guest of the writer's residence in our city, who has been working here since the beginning of June under the program "Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature", will be held on June 27 in the courtyard of the Goncharov House.

Andrei Hocevar from Ljubljana (Slovenia) is a poet, writer, critic, editor-in-chief of the well-known Slovenian magazine LUD Literatura, author of six books of poetry (the first of which was nominated for the Best Debut Award, the last one for the Veronika Award) and one collection of short stories. Hochevar's texts were translated into foreign languages, he participated in international literary festivals, including in Russia.

In Ulyanovsk, the author is working on poems and reporting on the literary life of the city. The guest from Slovenia is interested in the social circumstances of literature, which, in his opinion, have not been sufficiently studied. The writer took part in several literary events, including: the literary festival "Pushkin in the City of U", the Large Literary Assembly at the festival of literary journals "Volzhskaya Pristan", and the Literary Tramway.

On June 27, Andrey Khochevar will read his texts, answer questions from the moderator of the evening, the poet and journalist Sergei Gogin, as well as questions from the guests of the event. Beginning at 18-30 in the courtyard of the House of Goncharov. Free admission.

The organization of the residence was made possible thanks to partners: the Stary Simbirsk Hotel and Sergey Kuznetsov, the Ulyanovsk branch of Rostelecom, Ulyanovskelectrotrans Municipal Unitary Enterprise, and the Gourmet gastromarket.

Recall that the selection for the first international residence in Ulyanovsk started in the spring of 2019. Applications were accepted from writers and translators from the UNESCO cities of literature, who were ready not only to work on their own existing projects, but also to create a text related to Ulyanovsk. The jury included poets, writers, editors, representatives of the directorate of the program "Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature", the fund "Ulyanovsk - the cultural capital" and the city administration. As a result of the selection, two authors were invited to the city - Andrey Hochevar from Slovenia and David Howard from New Zealand. The guest from Dunedin will arrive in Ulyanovsk in September.

In turn, Ulyanovsk authors can become participants in similar residences in other UNESCO cities of literature, which regularly announce applications. Now local writers receive information about new competitions and residencies from the directorate of the Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature program through a special Writer's Info Point mailing list. To subscribe to it, just send an email to infopoint.ulskcityofliterature@gmail.com

For reference

In 2015, Ulyanovsk received the status of the Most Reading Region of Russia, and also entered the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the Literature category. Today, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network brings together 180 cities from 72 countries around the world.