The International Book Fair for High-Quality Fiction and Non-Fiction “non/fictio№18” was held on 30 November–4 December at Krymskiy val street in Moscow.
The Central House of Artists welcomed a great number of guests interested in books. On the 3 floor the visitors could look through and buy non-fiction, fiction, children’s books and rare books at a reduced price.
Every hour various events were held at “non/fictio№18”, such as meetings with writers, book presentations, lectures, seminars, roundtables and so on. On 30 November the results of “The most reading region” contest for the regions of Russia were announced: the Voronezh region became the winner.
Left photo: booths of book publishers and book sellers on the 2nd floor; right photo: booths for children’s books at the 3rd floor
Left photo: culinary workshop on the 3rd floor; right photo: announcing results of “The most reading region” contest
The Islamic Culture Research Foundation and the Sadra publishing house also had something to offer to visitors. All those interested in Islamic culture had an opportunity to look through and to buy for a reasonable price the majority of books published over the last 8 years and the new editions that have not come into the market yet.
It is hard to say what was more in demand. The visitors expressed great interest to all books: “The Qur’an. Interpretation of the meanings”, books on Islamic philosophy (“The History of Islamic philosophy” by Henry Corbin, “The world of Islamic mysticism by A. Schimmel); the new work on Islamic studies edited by M.B. Piotrovskiy and A.K.Alikberov, “Ars Islamica: in honour of Stanislav Prozorov”.
Non-fiction books about Iran (“Persia: the history of the undiscovered land” by A.B. Gromov and S.N. Tabai, “Iran: the country and the people” by A. Hatami); modern Iranian fiction books (“I am alive” by M. Abad, “Her I” by R. Amir-Khani), books of the Islamica & Orientalistica series prepared by the Islamic Culture Research Foundation and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (“Muslims in the new imperial history”, “Orientalism vs. orientalistics”), “The formation of Islamic art” by O. Grabar were also in high demand. Among the religious works, the books about the fundamentals of Islam and the personality of the Prophet Muhammad (“Islam: religious foundations, religious practice and morality” by M.A. Shomali, “The personality of the Prophet of Islam” by H. Sayidi), books on family education (“Upbringing in Islam” by I. Amini) and other similar books also sparked a great interest.
Left photo: the booth of the Islamic Culture Research Foundation; right photo: books of the Islamic Culture Research Foundation
Left and right photos: visitors coming to the booth of the Islamic Culture Research Foundation
On Saturday, 3 December, at 3 pm a presentation of the new book published in 2016 by the Islamic Culture Research Foundation and the Sadra publishing house took place in the Authors’ Hall in the Central House of Artists. The presentation was attended by reputable Russian and foreign academics: candidate of historical sciences, deputy director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.K. Alikberov; candidate of historical sciences, senior research worker of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.O.Bobrovnikov; doctor of philosophy, leading research worker of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences I.R.Nasyrov; candidate of philosophy, research worker of the Institute of Ismailian research (United Kingdom), chief editor of the Islamic philosophical yearbook, Ya.G. Eshots. The visitors were numerous, and by the end of the event there were no spare seats in the hall.
Left photo: attendees of the presentation of the Islamic Culture Research Foundation and the Sadra publishing house (left to right): general director of the Sadra publishing house S.N. Tabai, chief editor of the Sadra publishing house A.B. Gromov, senior research worker of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.O. Bobrovnikov, research worker of the Institute of Ismailian research (United Kingdom)Ya.G. Eshots, president of Islamic Culture Research Foundation Hamid Hadavi, deputy director of the Institute of Oriental Studies A.K. Alikberov, leading research worker of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences I.R. Nasyrov, research worker of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Lukashev
Many nice words were said about the heads of the Islamic Culture Research Foundation and the Sadra publishing house —Mr Hamid Hadavi and Mr Seyed Nasser Tabai. It was said that without their assistance it would have been impossible to publish such important works on Islamic studies and Islamic philosophy.
In his speech А.К. Alikberov gave a detailed review of the new book “Ars Islamica” written in the honour of Stanislav Mikhaylovich Prozorov, the greatest Russian expert in Islamic studies.
Ya.G.Eshots told about the new issue of the “Ishraq” Islamic philosophy yearbook, and also about his translation of “The Key to the Hidden” by Sadr ad –Din al-Kunavi, which recently won the third prize in the “Islam” nomination at “The book of the year: Islam and Iran in Russian-speaking countries” contest.
Left photo: speech of A.K. Alikberov; right photo: speech of V.O. Bobrovnikov
I.R. Nasyrov and V.O. Bobrovnikov told about joint projects of the Institute of Philosophy and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, namely about the book series entitled “The philosophic thought of the Islamic world” and Islamica & Orientalistica.
Mr Reza Maleki, head of the Cultural representative office of Iran in Moscow, also delivered a speech. He noted that when the Cultural representative office of Iran in Moscow was opened, its employees faced a lack of works on Islam in Russia. He also added, that this shortage was filled up the Islamic Culture Research Foundation.
Photo: speech of the head of the Cultural representative office of Iran in Moscow, Reza Maleki
In 2017 the The Islamic Culture Research Foundation and the Sadra publishing house are also planning to participate in the the International Book Fair for High-Quality Fiction and Non-Fiction “non/fictio№’ and to present new interesting books to their readers.
