Celebrities and ordinary people in Russia have started reading Leo Tolstoy's novel War And Peace in a 60-hour marathon broadcast.
The reading, which began on December 8, will spread over four days.
The 1,300 readers will include schoolchildren, sports personalities, scientists, politicians, and other celebrities such as French actress Fanny Ardant. Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov is joining in from the International Space Station.
The readings are taking place in some of the settings of the novel, including Tolstoy's country estate in Yasnaya Polyana, south of Moscow.
The event was organized by Russian state broadcasters.
The reading is being broadcast live on national television and streamed online.
War And Peace, one of Russia's greatest works of literature, was published in 1869. It follows the lives of aristocratic Russian families during Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia.
