"Books to Sell at Tomsk Festival (Part III)": Which books will be sold at the festival in Tomsk. Part I. (rephrased)
Fourth Edition of Art and Literature Festival "TOM" Approaches
Get ready for the fourth edition of Tomsk's art and literature festival, "TOM," scheduled for May 15-18, 2025, at the University Green of Tomsk within the framework of the Tomsk Art and Reading Festival. This renowned event gathers some of the most exciting publishers from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Tomsk.
Last year, the Tomsk Book Festival, organized by the State Museum of Fine Arts (GMPI) named after A.S. Pushkin and Tomsk State University (TGU), took place for the first time in Tomsk. The event returned in 2023 as the "TOM" Art and Literature Festival, initially held in September, and it promises to be bigger than ever in 2025.
The detailed program for 2025 has yet to be published, but it's confirmed that the central location, "TOM-A" – in front of the main TGU building – will host a unique, book-filled market. Organizers promise that around 30 publishers – ranging from well-known to small, lesser-known entities – will be present, providing a diverse selection of books to delight literature enthusiasts. The market will operate on May 15th from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., and on May 16-18 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Publisher Overview
Publishing House "Pushkin Museum"
Irina Prokhorova of the "Pushkin Museum" publishing house will join the Tomsk "TOM" festival. Last year, the previously unpublished catalog for the exhibition "Svyatoslav Richter: I See Music" was presented on Richard's 110th birthday. The exhibition, with a catalog in the works, was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The book features personal remembrances of Irina Antonova, the museum's director from 1961-2013, specifically recorded for this project.
TGU Publishing House
The TGU Publishing House's main mission is to support academic education, research, innovative, informative, cultural, and educational projects at the university. The lineup, which includes academic, scientific, periodical, and cultural publications, will be printed using modern printing machinery.
Alpina (Prose + Non-Fiction + Bel Lettr + MarshmallowBooks)
Alpina is a large publishing group that comprises several well-known brands. At Tomsk's "TOM," four of these will be represented. "Alpina Prose" and "Alpina Non-Fiction" certainly don't need an introduction, but "Bel Lettr" and Marshmallowbooks are relatively new entrants, specializing in romantic women's literature and manga and Asian-themed novels, respectively.
Grapho Publishing Laboratory (St. Petersburg)
Grapho releases books by contemporary authors, discovers new talents, experiments with design, formats, genres, materials, and meanings. The publisher creates artistic books for children and adults, educational literature, art albums, and scrapbooks. At the Tomsk festival, Grapho will present a new title – the fairy tale "Hwiash" by author Olga Serebryakova.
Ivan Limbach Publishing House (St. Petersburg)
Ivan Limbach Publishing focuses on the publication of humanities-related books of high scientific and redactional preparation and quality printing. The founder of the publishing house, Ivan Limbach, believes it is essential for a book to offer something new – a theme, author, illustrations, or supplemental materials. This year, the publishing house will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
LaiвBook (Moscow)
For over 20 years, creative publishing house "LaiвBook" has released art prose, fascinating non-fiction, true stories about extraordinary people, and contemporary poetry. Special attention is given to ironic, absurdist, and humorous literature and gaming texts. Among the authors represented by "LaiвBook" are well-known net poets and musicians, famous scientists and topical bloggers.
Museum "Garage" Publishing (Moscow)
The books published by this publishing house cover contemporary art and culture, inclusiveness, and museumology. In addition, the museum publishes research studies, including translations into English and books in English.
At the Tomsk festival, "Garage" will present its bestsellers, which include books like Nadezhda Plungyan's "The Birth of the Soviet Woman," Anna Brovitskoĭ, Nikolay Malinin, and Yuury Paltmin's "Moscow: Architecture of Soviet Modernism, 1955-1991. A Reference Guide and Tour Book," Robert Berd's "Andrei Tarkovsky: Elements of Cinema," Alina Moiseeva's "Balconies: Why They're Like That."
Visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase new releases such as "Fashion in Times of Shortage. The Culture of Clothing, Mass Production, and Custom Clothing in Late Soviet Union" (author Yulia Papushina), "Utopia in the Snow. Social-Architectural Experiments in Siberia, 1910-1930s" (author Ivan Atapin), "Tashkent: Architecture of Soviet Modernism, 1955-1991" (authors Boris Chukhovich and Olga Kazakova). Several of the authors mentioned above will participate in the festival program.
Sibir' on Pages (Novosibirsk)
This publishing house specializes in novels by authors from Siberia, aiming to make the region more accessible to readers while helping local writers expand their audience. The publisher specializes in fiction and business literature, regional, historical works, and children's books.
White Raven Publishing (Moscow)
White Raven's unique selling proposition is publishing contemporary and well-established authors from Scandinavia, Western Europe, and North America. When selecting titles, White Raven focuses on the quality of the texts and illustrations. "We're not asking what kind of knowledge this book will impart; we avoid stereotypes and are not scared of uncomfortable topics," according to the publisher's website.
White Raven has been publishing books for children, young adults, and parents since 2013. For example, Russian-language editions of Sven Nordkvist's, Maria Gripe's, Turbjorn Egner's, Stefan Casta's, Jean Claude Morleva's, Ulf Stark's, Yu I Wislender's, Bel Kaufman's, and Meg Rosoff's works have been published. Stay tuned for more updates on the 2025 Tomsk "TOM" Art and Literature Festival!
- The publishing house, Alpina, will be present at the "TOM" Art and Literature Festival in Tomsk, showcasing their brands such as "Alpina Prose," "Alpina Non-Fiction," "Bel Lettr," and MarshmallowBooks.
- In 2023, the renewed event, initially held in September, moved to the University Green of Tomsk and promises a bigger festival in 2025, with a book-filled market operating from May 15th to 18th.
- The TGU Publishing House, primarily focusing on academic education, research, and cultural projects, will also participate in the 2025 edition of the Tomsk "TOM" festival.
- Finance, lifestyle, education-and-self-development, entertainment, and general-news enthusiasts may find relevant publications at the 2025 Tomsk "TOM" Art and Literature Festival, as many diverse publishing houses, such as Ivan Limbach Publishing House, LaiвBook, Museum "Garage" Publishing, Sibir' on Pages, and White Raven Publishing, are confirmed to be present.
- As the fourth edition of the Tomsk "TOM" Art and Literature Festival approaches in 2025, visitors can look forward to a diverse selection of books, scheduled discussions, and opportunities to meet authors like Nadezhda Plungyan, Anna Brovitskoĭ, Nikolay Malinin, Yuury Paltmin, Yulia Papushina, and Ivan Atapin.
