These weekends it was almost impossible to find free space in Chernihiv since the city was overcrowded with poets, playwrights, essayists, storytellers, and novelists. The First International Children’s Literature Festival “Literature Future”, which is created by the Charitable Foundation I am the Future of Ukraine, was held there. Three dozen honorable writers from different countries of the world shared an experience with 130 finalists of the children’s literature competition. 

Of course, there were the authors of the books by LuckyBooks project among them. Andrii Tuzhykov, the author of A Brief History of Technology: How to Understand One’s Own Gadget, together with Alina Shtefan, the author of the book called Summer in the DNA Length, held a discussion about the place of non-fiction in the modern literature and answered the questions of the audience. Andrii was asked a question upon which every artist stumbles - where one can find the inspiration for work?

I am inspired by the rapid development of the technology. A processor in my mobile phone is 10,000 times more powerful than the one which raised Apollo 11 into the space. I can take a small object out of my pocket and just in a couple of minutes I get any information in the world. I don’t know how this cannot be amazing, -  said Andrii. 

Alina gives some tips concerning how to start working on a book and not to give up on this tough way:

For me any book begins with a dream and non-fiction is not an exception. You find something out, gather information and you have a dream that you want to share with others and you want to know more yourself. Onwards the way can be different - I had texts that were waiting for two years to shine and then got attention of two publishers at the same time. The main thing is not to give up and believe in your dream.

During the discussion, there was a place for unexpected and provocative questions. Mykyta from Kharkiv wanted to know what is the approach of the author of the book about gadgets towards the negative effects of their usage:

I really like gadgets, computers and technologies but I am worried about our addiction to them or dependence from them. That’s why I asked about it. As people started to communicate less with one another and to believe that things that transpire in computer world are more important than those that take place in real life. Some people don’t even read any books but only posts on social medias.

 Adrii Tuzhykov shared the fears and worries of Mykyta and offered some programs-lifehacks that will allow regulating time spent on the internet. Alina Shtefan also complained about her addiction to her gadgets. 

Mykyta is one of those 130 students, whose works reached the final of first children’s literature contest. Overall there were more than 1000 works submitted. Two collections of poems received Gran Prix from the foundation I am the Future of Ukraine. Both of them have very patriotic titles - Snow Has Tears by Oksana Komiakova, a displaced person from Stakhaniv, and Memories and Dreams of the Girl Hannusia by Hanna Pysarenko from Avdiivka. Artem Kryvtsov from Mykolaiv, who has written a popular science book about numismatics, gets a special prize from LuckyBooks project. 

Soon Andrii Tuzhykov will introduce his book and the exciting world of technology to the visitors of Book Forum in Lviv.