As compared to mammoth exhibitions (for example, the latest September exhibition at the All-Russian Exposition Center gathered about 3,000 participants from 81 countries), Non-Fiction is more than a modest exhibition. Only 180 publishing houses from 14 countries have been invited to the Central House of Artist. They are expected to satisfy the interest of highbrow Russian readers.
The most popular Russian writer at the fair is Boris Akunin, though he will not present any detective stories this time but only his latest work, Cemetery Stories, which may reverse the previous assumption of the author. The book combines belles-lettres and essay genres and tells about the cultural zests of the cemetery world and offers a reply to the question whether it is possible to overcome the humanity's eternal fear of death.
Andrei Bitov, a living classic, and his co-authors will present their CD "Four-times Like Chekhov", for which he wrote an essay. Mr. Bitov remembers that he had written his first short story with a pencil, lying on the grass, and could not even imagine that his essays would be released in the advanced multimedia format someday.
The most mysterious of the fair guests is still unknown. The organizers promise to invite a winner of the Booker Prize to a meeting with the readers due only tomorrow.
