Want to Hear 60 Straight Hours of Tolstoy's War and Peace Live?

A Russian media company is recruiting 1,300 readers worldwide for a live reading of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.”

By Dennis Abrams

Sputnik News announced that readers worldwide will have the opportunity to participate in Russia’s “unparalleled project” of a live reading of Count Leo Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece War and Peace.

The All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) hopes to enlist 1,300 readers from 30 cities from around the world in celebration of what Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Russia’s “Year of Literature.”

According to the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the novel will be read by well-known Russian actors as well as staff from Russian TV and radio networks. Celebrities from the worlds of charity, sports, and science will also be asked to participate.

Members of the general public who would like to take part are being asked to visit voinamir.com to submit applications and film themselves “reading fragments from the novel” before November 14th.

Readings will be held all across Russia and across “many different time zones,” and will take place in “theaters, museums and historical and cultural heritage sites.”

The reading will air live across VGTRK’s platforms as well as online for 60 hours straight on December 8–11, 2015.

About the Author

Dennis Abrams

Dennis Abrams is a contributing editor for Publishing Perspectives, responsible for news, children's publishing and media. He's also a restaurant critic, literary blogger, and the author of "The Play's The Thing," a complete YA guide to the plays of William Shakespeare published by Pentian, as well as more than 30 YA biographies and histories for Chelsea House publishers.