The cult of Babel: Odessa's literary flashmobs attract book-loving tourists

The Black Sea city may lack the pedigree of St Petersburg but it was home to Isaac Babel, and has a storied past as a stopping point for globe-trotting intellectuals

A slow-moving procession of 500-odd people stretch from the grand, if worn, Literary Museum along to the Opera House, one of the biggest and most opulent concert halls of the former Soviet Union.

Clutching hardback books, e-readers and paper printouts, the group – young and old, male and female – read passages aloud from Odessa’s literary past, sending up a gentle hum into the warm evening air. Behind, the sun slowly dips into the sea.

The literary scene here is small and underground, so we take what we can

Related: Kiev's new revolution: young Ukrainians spur cultural revival amid the conflict

Continue reading...