Throughout the year 2016, Ulyanovsk and its region has held no less than 2000 events dedicated to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Russian historiographer, writer and thinker Nikolaï Mikhaïlovitch Karamzin. To name but a few major events: the Karamzin marathon “History in Faces”, a Literary festival “The Word” and the “Karamzin Assembly”.

This series of events has been organized further to the designation in 2015 of Ulyanovsk as the first Russian city to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Literature, and to the attribution to the region of Ulyanovsk of the title of “The Literary Flagship of Russia” following the results of the competition “The Most Reading Region”. The city and its region have ever since redoubled efforts to showcase their unique literary history and creativity.