Russian book fair honors Israel-themed tome

An Israel-themed book was chosen as one of Russia’s top books of the year for the first time in an annual book conference’s history.

The book—the recently published three-volume “History of Israel” by Howard Sachar—will be honored at the Non/Fiction Book Fair, which will be held through Dec. 5 in the convention center of Moscow’s Central House of Artists.

In a statement, the book fair’s selection committee, comprised of some of Russia’s top authors, said they chose the book because of the importance of Israeli history in Russian society, something that has been heightened by the large Russian population in Israel and the relative lack of knowledge in Russia about the country’s history and development.

At the fair, the book’s publisher will have a large table devoted to marketing “History of Israel” and other books with Jewish themes.

The book fair also chose to honor “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat” by Simms Taback as part of its top children’s books list.