Following the first forums, about 100 young penmen got recommendations from recognized masters for publication in major literary magazines and saw their books published. Ten participants have been receiving culture ministry scholarships over the past two years.
Poet Leo Ozerov once came up with a universal slogan, " Help talents-mediocrities will come on top by themselves". This wisdom has even touched the sensitive foreign hearts. The American scholar Cyril Sokoloff, the son of the well-known Russian emigre biologist and writer Boris Sokoloff, announced at the previous forum that he would institute a new literary prize for the best original writing in the Russian language to budding authors under 25 years of age. The prize fund of $10,000 has been already claimed by more than 60 writers who have sent their works from different parts of Russia. The Lipki forum is to announce four winners.
Among the contributors to the staging of this forum are the Foundation of social, economic and intellectual programs, the Congress of Russian intellectuals in association with the Federal agency for culture and cinematography as well as almost all major literary magazines irrespective of their political and aesthetical views: Novy Mir and Moskva, Znamya and Nash Sovremennik, Inostrannaya Literatura and Druzhba Nartodov.
Plans include master-classes by literary magazines' editors and authors.
The forum is to last until October 22.
