May 20, 2024: the 18th Chekhov Book Festival took place in Taganrog on May 16-18. It opened at the historic Chekhov Drama Theater. The opening night featured the performance of film and theater actor Dmitry Gulnyov.
The festival has been held since 2007 with the support of Rostov Oblast Ministry of Culture, Taganrog Local Government, Taganrog Arts & Culture Council, Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications and other partners. In 2023, Russian Abroad Heritage Foundation began to support it as well. Over the course of its existence, the event has become noted all over Russia. The program is meant both for adults and children, people of all ages and occupations.
Performance of Anrey Usachev and Galina Dyadina on stage of the community center. Credit: Sergey Plishenko
"Taganrog is a book city, welcoming everyone" has become the festival's motto. It shows the creative potential of both residents and guests of Taganrog and indicates the opportunities to meet famous visitors of the festival: actors and film makers, poets and writers, journalists and editors, critics and interpreters. In 2025, the festival has been attended by children's authors Andrey Usachev and Galina Dyadina; writer and translator Yevgenia Bakhurova; writer, composer and production director Mikhail Mokiyenko; writers Liza Loseva, Andrey Zvyagin, Antonina Popova, Irina Ordynskaya and Zhanna Andrievskaya; poetess Irina Getmantseva.
