Flaiano, La Capria e Dorfles at the "Letterature 2010" Festival
On the 20th of May, the 9th edition of the" Letturature" festival opened at the Massenzio Basilica , during "The international Festival of Rome" This year's theme was “Dolce vita by Fellini”.
The celebrations were dedicated to the writer, journalist and scriptwriter Ennio Flaiano, who won the first edition of the Strega Prize in 1947, with his novel "The short cut". The actor Filippo Timi and the Neapolitan Writer Raffaele La Capria, recaptured his sarcastic, ironic, acute and ferocious spirit. Lucrezia Lante della Rovere read some passages from "Diario notturno" by Ennio Flaiano (1956), and an interview with Gillo Dorfles was projected in which he answered ten questions on the aphorisms and reflections of Flaiano on Italian society.
Good-bye Alice Miller
Alice Miller, the world-renowned child psychoanalyst, passed away on the 14th of April 2010. Her works, published in Germany by Suhrkamp Verlag Suhrkamp Verlag, were published in Italy by Raffaello Cortina Editore, Bollati Boringhieri and Garzanti.
Scianna, exhibitions and encounters
The "Passages, Figures and landscapes exhibition was held at the Centro Forma Gallery in Milan, between the 14th and 17th of January. This event was organised by Snam Rete Gas as a tribute to the wonders of Italy. The highly acknowledged photographer, Ferdinando Scianna was entrusted the task of immortalising images for the exhibition. On the 31st of January, Scianna was also a guest speaker at another venue in Milan: the fourth edition of the "sguardi liberi sul mondo" (freedom to watch the world) cycle of encounters dedicated to a key issue of photography: memories. This event was held at the Scighera Gallery.
Alberto Arbasino at 80
On 22 January 2010, Alberto Arbasino, who was born in Voghera in 1930, celebrated his eightieth birthday. To mark the occasion, the second volume of Romanzi e Racconti, a two-part collection of the narrative works of Alberto Arbasino, both edited by Raffaele Manica, has been published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the Meridiani series. The first volume was published in October 2009.
Daniele Brolli and Donatella Barbieri at Urbino University
Daniele Brolli, author, illustrator, comic-strip writer and an authority on American literature of the post-modern period and genre literature, and Donatella Barbieri gave the opening and closing lectures, respectively, for the 2009 academic course for editors at the Carlo Bo University in Urbino.
In memory of Romano Di Bilenchi
On the 24th of May 2010, a convention of studies was held to commemorate Romano Bilenchi. This event took place in Sala Ferri del Gabinetto Vieusseux di Firenze, at Palazzo Strozzi., in Florence Writers and critics including Benedetta Centovalli, Piero Gelli, Giovanni Gozzini, Romano Luperini, and Giorgio van Straten contributed to the session.
Romano Bilenchi, was born in Colle Val d'Elsa in 1909 and died in Florence in 1989 and is considered as one of the most original and intense Italian authors of the nineteen hundreds.
Readings and memories of Raboni
On the 8th of June, the «Parola di poeta» society commemorated Giovanni Raboni (1932-2004) with an evening at "la Casa della Poesia" in which Patrizia Valduga participated. Raboni's poems were read by Fabrizio Benini, Amos Marrio and Mary Barbara Tolusso.
Gillo Dorfles Celebrates his 100th Birthday
Gillo Dorfles, born in Trieste in 1910, celebrated his 100th birthday on the 12th of April. In honour of this occasion an extensive exhibition was organised at the Royal Palace in Milan. The exhibition opened on the 25th of February and will run until the 23rd of May. 200 exhibits by this versatile artist are on show and encompass paintings, drawings, sculptures, graphic designs, jewellery and ceramics. The aim of this initiative is to pay homage to the manifold talents of this artist, art critic, writer and intellect.
Salinger, a master of the 1900's dies
Jerome David Salinger died on the 27 th of January 2010. His name is linked to one of the best loved novels of all times: The Catcher in the Rye, published in 1951. Born in New York on the 1st of January 1919, he celebrated his ninety-first birthday shortly before passing away.
Conference on Fabrizia Ramondino in London
On 15-16 January, a conference on Fabrizia Ramondino, the great Neapolitan writer who died suddenly in 2008, was held at the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies at the University of London, Keynote speakers from prestigious UK, Italian, French, Belgian, German, Polish, US and Australian universities presented papers during the two-day workshop. Download the programme in PDF
New clients
Italian writers: Cosimo Argentina, Antonio Giovanessi, Patrizia Marzocchi, Carlo Mazzoni and Enrico Miceli.
Foreign publishing houses: Can Publishing (Turkey), Nahedt Misr (Egypt) and Kwela Books (South Africa)
Film of the novel by Edith Bruck
A film is to be made of the latest Edith Bruck novel, Quanta stella c’è nel cielo (What a lot of stars in the sky), winner of several literary awards this year. It will be produced by Jean Vigo Italia film studios and directed by Roberto Faenza. Another of Bruck’s novels, Andremo in città (We’ll go to town) was made into the 1966 film directed by Nelo Risi.
Dino Buzzati’s Poema a fumetti (Poem Strip)
The new edition of Dino Buzzati’s Poema a fumetti (Poem Strip), published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, was launched on Monday 30 November 2009 at 6.30 pm, some 40 years after its first publication in Italy.
Alda Merini dies
Alda Merini, one of the 20th century’s most important voices in Italian poetry, died on 1 November 2009. Born in Milan in 1931, she published numerous collections of poetry, including La Terra Santa (The Holy Land), which earned her the Librex-Guggenheim Eugenio Montale Prize in 1993, and Ballate non pagate (Unpaid Ballads), for which she won the Viareggio Prize in 1996. She was also the author of prose works.
A Day with Raboni, five years after his death
A Day with Raboni was an initiative promoted by Patrizia Valduga in memory of the poet Giovanni Raboni that took place in September and October. The event comprised an exhibition housed at the Casa del Manzoni in Milan, the launch of a book published by the Corriere della Sera Foundation and a workshop at the University of Milan.
Lalla Romano and Milan
On 26 September 2009, a workshop entitled "Lalla Romano and Milan" was held at the Braidense Library. Its objective was to explore the relationship between the Piedmont-born author and Milan, the city in which she lived and worked from 1947 until her death.
Ferdinando Scianna at the Maison Européenne de la Photografie, Paris
Conferences on Luigi Malerba one year on from his death
An initiative entitled “Homage to Luigi Malerba” promoted by the Casa delle Letterature was held in Rome from 25 May to 25 June 2009, in memory of Luigi Malerba one year on from his death. The initiative included a conference with keynote speakers Umberto Eco, Angelo Guglielmi, Walter Pedullà and Andrea Cortellessa, a photography exhibition, Italian and foreign first editions of some of his works and film screenings to highlight his important work as a scriptwriter. Other events included "A conference in honour of Luigi Malerba" held at Chicago University on 25 April and an international conference in Parma entitled, “Luigi Malerba. Literature and Cinema” on 8-9 October, organised by the Parma municipal authority’s Culture Department and Parma University. An anthology of the cinematography periodical Sequenze (Sequences), created and edited by Malerba from 1949 to1951, was published to mark the occasion.
Italian Authors around the World 1945-2009
The 75th IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) General Conference and Assembly, a highly prestigious event and the most important in the international libararies calendar, was held on 24-27 August 2009 in Milan. The gathering was attended by over 4,000 delegates from some 136 countries.
To coincide with the event, the Arnoldo and Alberto Mondadori Foundation staged an exhibition entitled Copy in Italy. Autori italiani nel mondo 1945-2009 (Copy in Italy. Italian Authors around the World 1945-2009) at the Braidense Library, which ran until 20 October. The objective of the exhibition was to highlight the spread of the Italian language and culture around the world in the latter half of the 20th century, with a special focus on translation and the role of the publisher as mediator. Also included was a major feature on Erich Linder and his work.
To coincide with the exhibition, an international conference entitled, La sfida di Camilleri (The challenge of Camilleri), dedicated to Andrea Camilleri, one of the most widely translated Italian authors, was held on 8 October 2009 at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan.
Tullio Pericoli: exhibition of landscapes
"Sedendo e mirando, paesaggi dal 1966 al 2009" (Sitting here contemplating, landscapes from 1966 to 2009). This quotation from Leopardi, which also gives its name to a painting, was the title of the exhibition curated by Elena Pontiggia that was held at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Ascoli Piceno from 21 May to 13 September. The exhibition was dedicated entirely to the theme of landscapes, an ever-present if less widely recognised theme in the work of the Le Marche-born artist, known mainly for his portraiture, stage design and illustrations.
