On December 2, the final of the International Poetry Recital Competition “Living Classics” was held in Saint Petersburg (Russia). 20 young lovers of Russian literature from 11 countries participated in the ceremony, and four more attended via video conference.

The title of the best reader of Russian poetry went to Frank Joseph Mulenga from Zambia, who recited the poem Giraffe by Nikolay Gumilev. The title was shared with school students from France and Uzbekistan.

The International Poetry Recital Competition “Living Classics” is the largest project for the promotion of reading in Russia and the popularization of Russian literature in Russia and abroad with a history of more than 10 years, held on the initiative of the Living Classics Foundation under the patronage of the Ministry of Education of Russia. During its run, more than ten million school students from 85 countries around the world have joined the Competition. This year, applications were filed from 50 countries.
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Works of literature presented at the Competition demonstrated a remarkable diversity of genres. What they had in common was their status as classics of the Golden and Silver Ages, and that they were all read in Russian, a foreign language for the majority of participants. The latter fact, however, was more of a challenge rather than an obstacle for the true lovers of literature. From the very first moment, it became apparent that the students had worked very hard, perfecting their proficiency, diction, and presentation to make the best impression on the Jury and to emotionally engage the audience in their stories.

“Congratulations to all the winners and participants of the Competition!” said President of the Living Classics Foundation Marina Smirnova. “We are delighted to see the interest in the Russian language and poetry among school students from so many different countries, and we hope that for them, this experience will be the beginning of something bigger: some will make new friends in Russia, others might become interested in the history and culture of Russia and choose to further improve their Russian. And we will be happy to see each of them among our participants again next year.”