Magazine awards for 2009 were presented

Mikhail Khodorkovsky stood under the "Banner"

The extraordinary revival in the Oval Hall of the Foreign Library on January 13 was caused not so much by the anticipation of the meeting of the old New Year, but by the civic excitement of the Znamya magazine gathered for the presentation of literary prizes. But...

The extraordinary revival in the Oval Hall of the Foreign Library on January 13 was caused not so much by the anticipation of the meeting of the old New Year, but by the civic excitement of the Znamya magazine gathered for the presentation of literary prizes.

But the main award this year is by no means literary. The award in the Globe nomination "for the development of a dialogue between cultures" went to the "Dialogues" project - philosophical letters exchanged between Lyudmila Ulitskaya and Mikhail Khodorkovsky in the October issue (some of them were published in Novaya Gazeta No. 100). Director of VGBIL Ekaterina Genieva, who presented the father’s award to his daughter Anastasia, noted that Dialogues is “an example of the search for a common language, and finding a common language with your compatriot is sometimes even more difficult than understanding a person of a different culture.” Anastasia admitted that one of the most important moments for her is when, meeting with her father, she sees him through double glass and bars: “I have been waiting for him for a third of my whole life. He asked me to tell you not to lose hope and keep the faith.”

Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Yelena Lukyanova read the laureate’s own words of congratulations, recorded in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison: “I consider this award as a symbol of moral support from the magazine, its readers and the highly respected master Lyudmila Ulitskaya, support for all people who find themselves in a difficult life situation. ... I believe that Russia's passionarity has not been exhausted, but the belief that "we can" does not remove the responsibility expressed by the words "I must."

The best works of 2009 were Ergali Gera's novel "Coma" (No. 9), "P-t-t, sanagoria, chat!" (No. 6) by Vladimir Naidin, Oleg Pavlov's novel "Asystole" (No. 11, 12), Vladimir Tuchkov's cycle "Russian I Ching". The "Debut in the Banner" award was given to Andrey Grishaev's poems "The Order of Things" (No. 9).