Ulyanovsk (Russian Federation), a UNESCO Creative City of Literature, has initiated “The Only Question – Authors in conversation” international project, with the aim of developing an online anthology issue. 

Writers, poets and translators from UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature and beyond, have been invited to imagine one single question they would like to ask to another author coming from a different city. Questions and answers (in Russian and English) along with a short biography of each participant and links to their publications have been regularly appearing on the Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature Website, other Creative Cities of Literature's websites, and social media platforms.

Since last autumn, more than 40 writers have already participated in the project, coming from 25 cities worldwide, including 18 Creative Cities of Literature, namely: Heidelberg, Melbourne, Iowa City, Seattle, Nottingham, Manchester, Norwich, Québec, Ljubljana, Angouleme, Mannheim, Montevideo, Milan, Kuhmo, Dublin, Durban and Exeter. 

Through this project, Ulyanovsk is bringing authors from different cities together, thus fostering inter-city exchange and dialogue, while providing an opportunity for readers around the world to meet new writers and poets, supporting the diversity of cultural expressions. As a result of the project, in summer 2022 an online anthology with all the conversations in both Russian and English will be released.

To read the first 10 conversations from the “The Only Question” project, please visit: 

http://ulyanovskcreativecity.ru/en/