On September 10, 2012, the 25th Moscow International Book Fair (MIBF-2012), which is traditionally held in the Russian capital, ended. Its area in the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VVC) has reached 36,000 sq. m. 45 countries took part in the dialogue of different cultures and literatures; more than 200 thousand book novelties in different languages were exhibited at the stands.
On the opening day of the Moscow Book Fair, Deputy Head of OJSC Rospechat Vladimir Grigoriev presented disappointing statistics of the Russian book industry. According to the results of the first half of 2012, 57 thousand different publications were published in the country (total circulation - 251 million copies). Rospechat calls this figure a record drop in circulation - by 13.5%, which is a consequence of the 2008 crisis.
Against the background of falling circulation, the huge interest of Russians in the exhibition-fair aroused optimism of the organizers. For 6 days MIBF was visited by hundreds of guests of the capital and Muscovites. In addition, it was attended by representatives of the countries of America, Europe and Asia. France became the guest of honor of the MIBF-2012, and the central exhibit belonged to Armenia - the UNESCO organization chose this country as the capital of the book of the current year.
For the first time, admission to the Moscow Book Fair became free for pupils and students - so that the younger generation would maintain the status of Russia as "the most reading country in the world." The good news was that at the All-Russian Exhibition Center, publishing houses received the right to sell books in pavilions at their own prices - distributors' markups were excluded.
The main accents of the 2012 cultural event were the activation of interethnic business contacts and the introduction of innovative technologies into the book industry. Great importance was also attached to the development of translation activities. In total, almost 500 events were held within the framework of the exhibition.
One of the key points of the MIBF was the conference dedicated to the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation on copyright and intellectual property. Other discussions analyzed the modern book market in Russia and the development prospects of the country's largest publishing houses - AST and Eksmo.
The extensive industrial program of the fair included a business forum, numerous industry round tables and seminars at the digital platforms of the MIBF - On Demand and KnigaByte. In the Muzeon park, near the Central House of Artists (Krymsky Val), an open-air multimedia festival BookMarket was held.
The book stands presented works of all industries and genres, domestic, translated and foreign originals. Visitors to the exhibition navigated this sea of books using a convenient "electronic compass" - a modern search engine, the points of which were located in front of the entrance to the pavilion of the All-Russian Exhibition Center. The desired work could be found by the known parameters: author, title, subject matter, publishing house and some others.
The expositions were collective and copyright. The Moscow Fair has delighted fans of such Russian writers as Andrey Bitov, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Mikhail Weller, Nick Perumov, Sergey Lukyanenko, Dmitry Bykov, Edvar Radzinsky, Mikhail Zadornov and many others. There were many interesting Polish, French, Czech, Israeli and German books.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda television and radio studio broadcasted the major events at MIBF. In addition, more than a thousand representatives of other domestic media and 18 foreign journalists worked at the 25th fair. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the September cultural event "unique" and "highly demanded" forum, which became a bright sign of the new academic year.
