Three million, not counting Bibigon

An award for children's writers has been established

The buzzing fly, Aibolit and Moidodyr, Fedora with her grief and the evil Barmaley are heroes familiar to everyone in our country right from the cradle. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of the man who invented them, one of the most famous children's writers - Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky. This anniversary became the occasion for several important events at once. Thus, in the first ten days of December 2007, a children's literature festival named after Chukovsky will be held in Moscow. Its organizer is the Moscow Writers Union. In the winter of 2007, he had already established the Chukovsky “Golden Crocodile” poetry prize. Its first laureates will be named on September 10 in Peredelkino, where a children’s holiday “Farewell Summer” will be held at the poet’s dacha.

In addition, according to the order of the mayor of Moscow, an annual literary prize named after Korney Chukovsky is being established, aimed at supporting the authors of the best literary works for children. The nominees for the prize are still unknown; The jury, headed by Eduard Uspensky, includes Yuri Entin, Marina Moskvina, Marina Boroditskaya... The award is completely new, its regulations have not yet been made public, but one thing is already known for sure - Yuri Luzhkov promised to annually allocate three million from the city budget for the formation of the award fund rubles Recently, there has been a clear crisis in children's reading in Russia; the circulation of quality books, newspapers and magazines intended for young readers has noticeably decreased. I would like to believe that a prize with a fairly solid material base will to some extent help change the situation.

It also became known that from September 1, a new TV channel will appear in Russia, created specifically for children on the basis of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Company. They promise that he will be kind and help in the fight against anxiety. The name of the channel is “Bibigon”, in honor of the hero Korney Chukovsky. Thanks to the hero of the day!

Gleb MYSHKIN