On Saturday, April, 23, the Centre for Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library hosted the final round of the Persian Poetry Recitation Contest. The contest was organized by the Russian State Library, the Ibn Sina Foundation and the Cultural Mission of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Russian Federation. The event was held at the venue of the "City of Eternal Spring" exhibition dedicated to the celebration of Nowruz, Iranian New Year.

The most talented students from three Moscow universities — the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Moscow State Linguistic University — took part in the final competition. A panel of judges made up of Iranian experts in Persian poetry awarded three prizes to the winners: the first prize was given to Tatiana Kedova (Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University), second prize went to Anna Oleinik (Moscow State University); the third prize was shared between Nadezhda Rabzhinova (Moscow State University), Ivan Pappinen (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) and Nika Budakova (Moscow State Linguistic University). The Ibn Sina Foundation presented the winners with a valuable gift — a two-volume textbook "Persian Literature, 9th-18th centuries" by M.L. Reisner and A.N. Ardashnikova. All the contest participants who demonstrated their excellent knowledge of Farsi, great taste and artistry received certificates and a new edition of  the Sadra publishing house — "One Hundred Ghazals" by Hafiz in the poetic translation by V. S. Zharkova and I. V. Abramenko.

We would like to remind that the exhibition of blackletter books "The City of Eternal Spring", organized by the Centre for Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library with the support of the Ibn Sina Foundation, is open to the public until April, 29.