Leading researchers of fairy tales from Belarus, Estonia, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Bulgaria will take part in the Forum. Among them, there are Zurab Djapua, President of the Academy of Sciences of Abkhazia; Ekaterina E. Anastasova, Head of the Balkan Ethnology Department of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Varvara E. Dobrovolskaya, Head of the Department of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the State Russian House of Folk Arts; Natalia Bolshakova, Head of the Scientific and Educational Laboratory of Regional Philological Studies of Pskov State University.
Fairy tales are the largest property of the Belarusian national culture. They still retain their aesthetic, cognitive and educational significance. Belarusian fairy tales are firmly embedded into the treasury trove of the world’s fairy tales, though being characterized by a number of distinguishing features concerning plot, images, motives, etc. Language of fairy tales acquires a special color and expressiveness. The development of written Belarusian culture, naturally, led to emergence and expansion of author's tales. Traditions of fairytale literature in life of the Belarusian people are very strong. This is one of the components of formation of the Belarusians national identity, and yet modern civilizational processes move fairy tales to the periphery of elegant literature. Therefore, there is a need to emphasize the importance of fairy tale art for society in general and for an individual in particular.