At the end of 2013, IBT published a new edition of Luke's Gospel in the Evenki language of Siberia. Since this language is highly endangered and most Evenkis do not have much experience reading in their mother tongue, this edition was printed together with the Russian Gospel of Luke in a parallel column as an aid to comprehension. An audio recording of the Evenki text, read by the translator, Nadezhda Bulatova, was released on CD together with the book.
The diglot edition of Evenki Luke was ordered by the Khabarovsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is serving as the book's primary distributor among the Evenki people. In Tura, a center of the Evenki populace, the local TV channel taped a special report on the new book, due to be aired on January 18. IBT's previous publications in Evenki – the Gospel of Luke (2002) and the Children's Bible (2011) – have been distributed free of charge to local libraries, churches, schools, scholarly organizations, and associations that promote the cultures of the minority peoples of the Russian Federation.
IBT is very grateful to everyone who has contributed to our work in preserving and developing minority languages through the publication of texts like the Evenki diglot Gospel of Luke.
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