The meeting was attended, in particular, by Head of the Russian Book Union Sergei Stepashin, Advisor to the President Yelena Yampolskaya, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects Sergei Novikov, representatives of the ministries of Culture, Education, Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, the Union of Writers of Russia, the Union of Children’s and Youth Writers, Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media), and a number of publishing houses.
The discussion specifically focused on the quality of modern children’s literature and on protecting children from destructive content. The meeting participants also discussed the problem of children’s declining interest in reading and their deteriorating text processing skills, as well as the need to update the programme for support and promotion of children’s reading.
The importance of the writing and publishing community’s more active engagement with government agencies to support children’s literature was emphasised.
The participants agreed to send their proposals to the Presidential Executive Office and the Russian Book Union for elaboration.