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International book exhibition fair opens in Leipzig.

The Leipzig book exhibition-fair ends its work on March 18

BERLIN, March 15 (Itar-Tass) - - More than 2,000 publishing houses from 44 countries, including Russia, take part in the international book exhibition-fair which opened in Leipzig on Thursday.

Some 100,000 books, including 20,000 novelties, are presented at this traditional fair this year. Electronic and audio books, art albums, calendars, manuals and laserdiscs are also exhibited at the fair. Stands are installed on the area of 69,000 square meters, which is slightly more than last year (67,000 square meters).

This time Russia will be represented at the fair only by the publishing house of the Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov.

As before, the literary festival “Leipzig Reads,” which is the biggest in Europe, will be an important event at the fair. A total of 2,780 authors and workers of publishing houses will take part in it. Some 2,600 different events are prepared for them. These are, first of all, discussions, meetings with writers and trainings for raising teachers’ qualification.

The Leipzig book exhibition-fair, which ends its work on March 18, is traditionally popular among visitors. A total of 163,000 people visited it last year.

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