40th anniversary of Scerbanenco's death

2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the death on 27 October 1969 in Milan of Giorgio Scerbanenco, the author who gave his name to the most prestigious award in Italian crime fiction, the Scerbanenco Prize. The Brescia crime-writing festival, “A qualcuno piace giallo” (Some Like it Yellow1), was also dedicated to his memory this year, and included the screening of films adapted from his novels.

20th anniversary of Leonardo Sciascia’s death

Numerous events ere organised to celebrate the writer who died on 20 November 1989. On 25 May, the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, paid tribute to Sciascia during a visit to Sicily. One of the most high-profile events was an evening during the Milanesiana Festival at the Dal Verme Theatre, Milan, on 1 July entitled Vedere l’invisibile (Seeing the Invisible).

Sellerio: 40 years in business

In 2009, the publishing house Sellerio celebrated its 40th anniversary. The company was founded by Elvira and Enzo Sellerio in Palermo in 1969, in collaboration with anthropologist Antonio Buttitta and Leonardo Sciascia in the role of author, translator and editorial consultant. At the Turin Book Fair last May, Antonio Sellerio commemorated 40 years of publishing with some of the most famous authors in the publisher’s stable. To mark this important anniversary, Sellerio has published a collection entitled La rosa dei venti (The Wind Rose) containing 20 works published between 1969 and 2009 which it considers milestones of its publishing history.

Morris West: double anniversary

Also in 2009, 9 October saw the 10th anniversary of the death of Morris West, an Australian writer who lived in Italy for several years. 2009 was also the anniversary of his first notable literary success, The Devil’s Advocate, published in 1959, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, one of the oldest and most prestigious literary prizes for books published in English. Two films were made of the book: in 1977 with screenplay by Morris himself, and in 1997.