The U.S. Embassy in Minsk participated in the 21st Minsk International Book Trade Fair February 5-9, 2014, which included 26 countries and over 600 exhibitors. This year, the theme of the U.S. Embassy booth was “Learn about the U.S. through Comics,” aimed at promoting a deeper understanding of the U.S. through appreciation of American comic books.
The Embassy sponsored Book Fair events started with the Charge d’Affaires Ethan Goldrich’s press availability, where he announced the launch of the Embassy’s “One-Page Comic” Facebook contest with an iPad mini as a grand prize. Booth programming included interactions with Book Fair visitors by the U.S. artist and comics writer Josh Elder and his “Making Comics the NINJA Way!” interactive workshop at the Book Fair Conference Hall.
Visitors also took part in the computer quiz and comics jam, played board games and lead Batman on his fight with evil in a marvelous computer quest. About 50 English students played a Comics Trivia team game.
The Embassy booth was highly appraised by the Book Fair visitors and organizers and received a Certificate of Honor for Unique National Collection.
