The Russian State Library, also known as the Leninka, hosted “LitRAVE” overnight from October 31 to November 1. The publishing group Eksmo-AST and the library jointly organized the event. About 3,000 people gathered in the reading rooms on three dance floors playing techno, electronic pop, and ambient music, according to Eksmo-AST.
The news outlet Sota reported that pro-war poet Anna Revyakina opened the event. In addition to music and poetry, the “LitRAVE” program included performance art, light installations, and an exhibition of literary memes.
The rave at Russia’s main library drew criticism from pro-war bloggers and pro-government activists, who compared it to “Satan’s ball.”
Yekaterina Mizulina, who heads the Safe Internet League and is known for reporting people to the authorities, said the library holds “books printed as far back as the 15th century, including works printed by Johannes Gutenberg, Ivan Fyodorov, and Schweipolt Fiol.” She suggested that books could have been taken from the library “while everyone was distracted.”
“What does the Culture Ministry think of this? You can’t be so irresponsible with cultural heritage,” Mizulina said.
In fact, the library does not store books in its reading rooms; readers receive them on request.
Vladimir Astapkovich / RIA Novosti / Sputnik / Profimedia
Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Profimedia
Propagandists were also outraged by the rave, the news outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti reported. Andrey Medvedev, a presenter for the state broadcaster VGTRK, wrote that “a library is no place for a rave,” while war correspondent and Solovyov.Live host Sergey Karnaukhov called for “the library’s entire management” to be fired. “And I’m not even going to bother explaining ‘why,’” he said.
The library told the news outlet Podyom that it was “seeing incredible hype” around the event but “knew exactly what it was doing.” The goal of “LitRAVE,” the library’s management said, was to attract young readers — “a lively, loud, curious audience that every library in the world secretly dreams of.”
This isn’t a disco in the book stacks. It’s an attempt to speak to a new generation in its own language so we can introduce it to ours — the language of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Pushkin.
Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Profimedia
Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Profimedia
Eksmo-AST said of its decision to hold a rave at the Leninka: “How else can we compete with 21st-century forms of entertainment? How can we offer an alternative to Moscow audiences, who are spoiled for choice? How can we draw attention away from TikTok? How can we show that reading is fashionable and relevant?”
The organizers said they had thought through every safety measure. The library suffered no damage, Eksmo-AST said, adding that the Leninka’s website and app “crashed several times because of the huge volume of requests.”
All 3,000 attendees signed up for library cards, the publisher said.
Russia’s national library
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