Not just Nonfic

“A tired topic”

The fair opened for visitors at eleven in the morning. Journalists arrived a little earlier. Founder of the non/fictioNvesna book fair and CEO of Expo-Park Exhibition Projects Vasily Bychkov began his speech at the press breakfast with money. He noted that the prices for fair participants are not high at all. According to him, the price per square meter is 17,500 rubles, of which 3,500 are for the services of installing the stand. Bychkov added that this is the “lowest rental cost” among large Moscow fairs, pointing out that at other venues the prices fluctuate around 24-25,000 per square metre of unequipped space. “We make ends meet,” added Vasily Bychkov. He also noted that one of the “tricks” of the fair is the attraction of independent book publishers, whose stands are located practically at the very entrance. They are provided with participation at non/fictioN for a symbolic fee of 1,000 rubles. There were 44 independent publishers this year. Independent bookstores from the regions (there were six of them, including Smena from Kazan) were provided with trading places free of charge.

Admission to the fair cost 600 rubles for one visit and 1,200 rubles for a common ticket for all four days. However, according to Bychkov, “tickets for exhibitions very rarely cover their costs.” He noted that non/fictioN is “not a subsidized story” and complained about business:

“We have partners, including famous brands. But there is no serious financial assistance from anyone. We are patronized by the Ministry of Digital Development. But there is no support from business. Almost. Of course, we thank Yandex, but we could have given more.”

This was not the only statement by Vasily Bychkov.

“At all the venues and conferences that have been held recently, one of the topical, hackneyed, and already boring topics is interaction with artificial intelligence. We made a small contribution to this discussion with our exposition.”

Therefore, the “boring topic” of artificial intelligence occupied the central pavilion of the fair. The interaction of man and machine was presented in the format of a literary experiment. Over the course of four days, the performance Inspiration Machine was held, in which the writer and cultural scientist Lev Naumov, together with a neural network, created a story called Silence and Other Forms of Life. A total of about 800 requests were sent, the result was 56,648 letters of text written in three days. In one of them, 26,000 characters were generated — a record for productivity even by Naumov's own standards. The story was not edited: according to the conditions of the experiment, the public was presented with the “raw” text, as it is.

“It just happened”

After the journalists listened to the speeches (not always informative, and sometimes too detailed) of all the fair partners, Vasily Bychkov suggested that they disperse. No questions from the journalists were expected. Although they were ripe, since another scandal had broken out in two weeks. For the first time, the Individuum publishing house was denied participation in the fair. No one gave any reasons. Neither official nor unofficial.

As Bychkov was leaving, Maksim Mamlyga, a book reviewer for the magazine Rules of Life and editor-in-chief of the literary media BILLY, called out to him. He asked: “What is the situation with Individuum?” To which Vasily Bychkov answered briefly: “It just happened.” A more informative explanation did not follow. There are many versions circulating on social networks. Most are inclined to believe that the refusal to participate was politically motivated.

According to one version, someone at the top didn’t like Nikita Smagin’s book Everyone Iran. The Paradoxes of Life in an Autocracy Under Sanctions. According to another, it was Burkhard Bilger’s book Fatherland. A Story of War, Family, and Conscience in Nazi Germany. Another assumption is that the series of books about post-war Germany as a whole is a reflection of a defeated country. Versions multiplied, including because of Nikolai Gerasimov’s book Kill the State in Yourself. How Rebels, Philosophers, and Dreamers Invented Russian Anarchism. In principle, any book from any publisher can be found fault with, if there is such a desire. Therefore, the most obvious reason is the self-censorship of the book fair organizers. Individuum has still not received an answer. “We still don’t know the reason,” Marketing Director of Individuum Publishing House Nikita Golovanov told Realnoe Vremya’s journalist.

There is another interesting point in this situation. Individuum Publishing House is part of the largest publishing group in Russia, Eksmo-AST, which belongs to Oleg Novikov. And Eksmo-AST, in turn, is one of the main partners of the non/fictioN fair.

“I have not seen any reaction from Eksmo-AST holding, which now includes Individuum as an imprint. From a simple and clear position — to publicly call the fair to account or condemn its position, to a more subtle one — like reasoning with the organizers, to whom the holding pays huge amounts of money, for example, by withdrawing their participation, or much more modest participation in the future. None of this happened, which is a pity. Let this remain on the conscience of the press service and senior management,” Maxim Mamlyga commented on the situation.

Eksmo-AST publishing group also did not respond to Realnoe Vremya's request.

“Brazhniki” — and get drunk!”

In response to the refusal, Individuum publishing house quickly organized its own festival Brazhniki — and get drunk!, the name of which refers to the book by Maxim Zhegalin Brazhniki and bludnitsy. How the poets of the Silver Age lived, loved and died. The festival was held in three places in Moscow. The publishing house sold its books in Barka bar, which is located in Gostiny Dvor building. Security guards at the fair even kindly told visitors how to get there to buy books from Individuum. Another event was held in the Dezhurnaya ryumochnaya, the rest — in the Book in the Club.

In parallel with the non/fictioN fair, Individuum Publishing House held six events. These were presentations of the already mentioned books by Nikita Smagin, Maxim Zhegalin and Nikolai Gerasimov, as well as books by Denis Puzyrev The Newest History of Russia in 14 Bottles of Vodka, Alexei Safronov The Great Soviet Economy. 1917-1991, as well as a joint presentation of works by Katya Kolpinets The Formula of Happiness and Vasily Chistyukhin No Way. How to Become a Successful Artist. By the way, the publishing house would not have been able to hold such a number of events within the framework of non/fictioN.

“We rate the past festival as a sensation — both media and economic. Sales really did exceed a million rubles. The margin of Book in the Club will have to be subtracted from it, but in any case it is more than the winter non/fictioN,” said Nikita Golovanov.

He also provided sales data from the last fair and from the festival Brazhniki — and get drunk!. Net revenue increased by 31% compared to sales at the winter non/fictioN in 2024.

Such festival initiatives are not held for the first time. But this year there were significantly more of them, and they were much brighter. Basically, authors who are not allowed to the fair with presentations participate in the parallel program. For example, five events were held in the Parkhomenko bookstore, including the presentation of Guzel Yakhina's book Eisen. For independent bookstores, such activities during the fair are a great success. Writers, journalists and bloggers from all over the country come to Moscow. It is not a problem to hold a presentation of a major writer, because he is already in the city and ready to communicate with readers.

In the bookstore Polyandria Letters there was a presentation of the new book by Evgenia Nekrasova Kholodov Streetand Olga Ptitseva Spring Water (a continuation of the dystopian novel Two Hundred and Third Day of Winter). Both the Individuum publishing house, and the Parkhomenko store, and Polyandria Letters were packed. The demand for such informal events is high, so there is every reason to believe that the parallel program will expand each time.

“The phrase ‘Parallel programme’ is not quite appropriate, since the fair itself and its management have nothing to do with these events (although they could). Rather, these are alternative events, events on the sidelines of the fair, or events that are held during the fair. Back in 2018-2019, it was clear that the fair could not accommodate everyone who wanted to attend, the industry was developing rapidly, and there were fights for a place in the program. In such a situation, going beyond the Gostiny Dvor seems absolutely natural — and the behavior of the organizers has been just a catalyst for several years. I am sure that there will only be more such programs during the non/fictioN fair. This is a direct inevitability — to the delight of all of us,” said Maxim Mamlyga.

Ekaterina Petrova is a book reviewer of Realnoe Vremya online newspaper, the author of Poppy Seed Muffins Telegram channel.