February 7, 2023: in Taganrog Anton Chekhov's birthday has been traditionally commemorated with a wide range of events. One of them was the international campaign "The World Reads Chekhov", which finished on February 1. It was conducted by Foreign Relations Office of Taganrog Local Government and Taganrog Chekhov Public Library.

The initiative organized by Chekhov's home city brought together almost 400 enthusiasts of Russian literature from the following 70 countries: Abkhazia, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Madagascar, Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Peru, Poland, Republic of Congo, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Ossetia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zambia.

Teachers, students, and fans of Anton Chekhov's literary heritage read aloud fragments of their favorite Chekhov's works. Short videos in 32 world languages were made. It is noteworthy that the faculty of many foreign universities engaged in the activity - the University of Zurich; universities of Southern California, New York, South Alabama, Iowa, Illinois; the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz; Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda; the University of Belgrade; Ankara University; the University of Namibia; the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua; Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins; the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin; the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Within the framework of the project, several language experts presented their author's translations of Chekhov's works.

Many participants of "World Reads Chekhov" expressed the creativity, in particular, by using scenery and costumes, or choosing unusual places for filming. For example, students of the art school "Lola Mora" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) drew, edited in video tape, and voiced a cartoon based on Anton Chekhov's vaudeville "The Proposal". Actors of the children's theater "Mandarin" from Hurghada, Egypt put on costumes of Chekhov's period and filmed a play based on the short story "Boys".

It is noteworthy that several linguists presented author's translations of Anton Chekhov's works. Among them is the first translation of "Lady With The Dog" into Malagasy, whose fragment was read aloud by a student of "Russkiy Mir" Center in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Video clips are available on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TaganrogCityCom/, where we will continue publishing the remaining entries. All participants will be receiving their digital certificates of participation.

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