The 11th Derzhavin Readings started on November 25th.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov addressed the audience, “Gavriil Derzhavin was not only a statesman, a poet, a student of the first boys' school in Kazan, but also our countryman”.

The other reason to hold this conference at KFU is that Derzhavin was the first Minister of Justice of Russian Empire, and Kazan school of law is one of oldest in Russia. 2.5 thousand of the 50 thousand students of KFU are at the Faculty of Law.

Chairman of the State Council of Tatarstan Farid Mukhametshin said that he is happy about Derzhavin Readings returning to the renowned statesman's birthplace. Derzhavin was born in the village of Sokury in Laishevo county, now Laishevo municipal district of Tatarstan. His museum there holds annual poetry celebrations. National Derzhavin Prize in Literature is given in Kazan – also on a yearly basis, competitions and contests dedicated to Derzhavin are held frequently.

«We have to improve law education and the graduates' competitiveness», stressed Head of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science Sergey Kravtsov. Much is done right now in this regard, he added, mentioning the special Presidential decree “On the improvement of higher law education in Russian Federation”.

The plenary session was opened by popular TV personality and historian Nikolay Svanidze. He spoke about several anecdotes from Derzhavin's biography.

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Aleksandr Bastrykin was present at one of the panels.

12 panels in total comprise the conference, some of them in law and some in philology, thus covering the wide range of disciplines that were of interest to polymath Gavriil Derzhavin.