For Immediate Release
Office of Mrs. Bush
October 12, 2002
Opening Remarks by Mrs. Bush at the National Book Festival Opening Ceremony
Thank you, and welcome to the White House, where we begin the
second National Book Festival.
I am thrilled to share the stage with this remarkable group of
people who inspire us with their professionalism, their talent, and
their leadership.
I am especially pleased to be joined by a very special guest whose
country boasts some of the world's most romantic, influential, and
expressive literary figures -
Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Turgenev; Aleksandr Pushkin and Alexander
Blok, Leo Tolstoi, and one of my favorites, Fyodor Dostoyevski - who
wrote in St. Petersburg, a city I visited with the Russian First Lady
in May of this year.
Mrs. Putin and I visited her university - St. Petersburg University
- one of the most prominent and respected in her country. The
university has vast hallway lined on one side with windows and on the
other side with books, which the students use in their daily studies.
We walked down the long hall looking at case after case of books
with titles in Russian and many other languages.
Mrs. Putin said that without fail - no matter what end of the hall
she began her search - the books she needed were always at the opposite
end of the hall.
Mrs. Putin is very interested in her country's libraries,
especially the provincial libraries. We both agree that libraries are
terrific places where children can explore their imaginations and where
families can share the magic of reading. We share a great interest in
libraries, and the visit to Russia inspired us to invite Mrs. Putin to
our National Book Festival.
I am proud to welcome the First Lady of the Russian Federation to
the people's house. Ladies and Gentlemen, my friend and fellow book
lover, Mrs. Ludmila Putin.
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