From 15 to 16 September, the 2016 edition of the International Cultural Forum took place in Ulyanovsk, Creative City of Literature. The event was organized by the Government of the Ulyanovsk Region, the Ministry of Art and Cultural Policy of the Ulyanovsk region and the “Ulyanovsk – Capital of Culture” foundation. In 2015, the city has been bestowed the title of “The Literary Flagship of Russia” following the results of the competition “The Most Reading Region”, meanwhile also became the first and only Russian city to join the UCCN. In this context, the Creative Cities of Literature of Barcelona (Spain), Krakow (Poland) and Montevideo (Uruguay) took part in this international gathering.

The Creative Cities of Literature were represented by the following:

• The editor of the journal “New Eastern Europe”, a journalist of the newspaper “Tygodnik Powszechny” Malgorzata Nocuń (Krakow, Poland) in her story about the city, said that Krakow is the cultural center of Poland. There lived two Nobel prize winners in literature – Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska; the magazine “Tygodnik Powszechny” and the publishing house “Znak”, which have played an important role in the cultural life of Poland; the literary festival Conrad, which collects many publishers and writers on its venues and opens the Russian modern literature for the Polish readers, takes place in Krakow.
• The poet-translator Ksenia Dyakonova, representing Barcelona - UNESCO City of Literature (Spain), as the central theme for her presentation has chosen the Literary Museum of Barcelona. It details not only the world literature, but also the works of Catalan poet Jacint Verdaguer, known for his poem “L'Atlàntida”.
• Fyodor Bogorodsky, a descendant of Nikolay Karamzin, President of the Karamzin House in Uruguay (Montevideo, Uruguay) also took part in the presentation of the programme. In his speech he emphasized on the Uruguayan literature and its brightest representatives.

The main themes of this year’s Forum focused on literature, and the promotion of reading and books. This forum is known to see the participation of leading international and Russian organizations of culture, foreign cultural centres, public and non-profit organizations working in the sphere of culture, territorial development institutions. This year, it included the Sixth International Assembly of Arts “Plastovskaya Autumn”, representatives of the Literary Festival “The Word. Volume Two” – which has recently won a presidential grant – the All-Russian exhibition “Karamzin at all times”, as well as Russian and foreign writers “Big Book – Meetings in Province”. 

In addition, the Forum has presented itself as an opportunity for Ulyanovsk, the first city of the Russian Federation to join the Network, to present its “UNESCO Creative City Programme” led by the Foundation “Ulyanovsk – Capital of Culture” and Direction “Ulyanovsk – City of Literature”.

“Gaining the status of “UNESCO Creative City of Literature” is extremely important for the Ulyanovsk region because through this status the region can present itself and our country at the international level. This status already attracts the attention of the major Russian and international organizations, as no any other Russian city has managed to become a member of the Creative Cities Network”, declared Galina Muromtseva, Director of the Foundation “Ulyanovsk – Capital of Culture”

"For the City Administration of Ulyanovsk it is now important to integrate the topic of literature into various spheres of life, so that the city could develop through it. We would like to be able to improve the quality of the citizens’ life together with the Ministry of Arts and Cultural Policy, the Foundation "Ulyanovsk – Capital of Culture”, libraries and other organizations”, – said Pavel Andreev, Manager of the Direction of “Ulyanovsk – City of Literature”.