(Kazan, KZN.RU, November 4, by Zilya Gayfi) Novelist Alexander Snegiryov and playwright Talgat Batalov were awarded the international prize "Ticket to the Stars 2014." The award ceremony was held in Kazan City Hall, and the winners were congratulated by Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.
The Board of Trustees, which included prominent Russian writers, critics and musicians, awarded the prize to Moscow writer Alexander Snegiryov – the author of the novels "Oil Venus," "How We Bombed America" and "Vanity." The young writer's works have been translated into English, German and Swedish.
Another "Ticket to the Stars" winner was playwright, stage director and actor with Tatar roots, Talgat Batalov, a native of Uzbekistan who now lives in Moscow. His play "Uzbek" has been nominated for the national theater award "Golden Mask 2013" in "The Experiment" category.
For the first time, this year's winners were awarded, in addition to the traditional Festival figurines, badges with V.Aksenov's self-portrait, which was created at the suggestion of the mayor of Kazan. Ilsur Metshin congratulated the awardees. "The first 'Ticket to the Stars' was truly a lucky one for our countryman Denis Osokin. As Vasily Pavlovich dreamed, every 'Ticket to the Stars' should be a start in life," the mayor said.
Also for the first time this year, a new project was launched at the Aksenov Fest jointly with the Union of Writers of Tatarstan: a publication of collected works by Tatarstan writers in Tatar with interlinear Russian translation. "We hope that this publication will be read outside Kazan and Tatarstan," said the mayor.