Twenty years of books, of great guests, of lucky debuts for authors later consecrated by audiences and literary awards; twenty years of challenges and transformations; twenty years of cultural promotion, of love for books and of great efforts to offer the Tuscan and Italian public a fixed appointment with small and medium-sized independent publishers. A narrative extended over twenty years and concentrated in the hashatg #PISABOOKRACCONTA.
From Thursday, Sept. 29, to Sunday, Oct. 2, the striking exhibition space of the Republican Arsenals, immersed in the greenery of the Citadel and made available by the City of Pisa, will once again be the beating heart of the fair with the stands of 90 exhibiting publishers. The fair's events will instead be hosted in the Museum of Ancient Ships and the Museum of Palazzo Blu.
The theme of the edition is as always the book, told by its protagonists, the publishers and their authors with the involvement of translators, editors, literary agents and booksellers. Programming ranges from meeting with the author to debate, from writing workshop to seminar, from master classes to public readings.
Alongside literature, this year there will be the topicality of war, which through the voices of writers, journalists and historians will tell us about Ukraine, its history and culture. There will be many foreign guests and many languages will be spoken at the festival, mostly from Eastern Europe. Translation has always been one of the highlights of the festival, which is enriched now by the Pisa Book Translation Awards, the translation prizes organized in collaboration with the University of Pisa.
More than 100 events are scheduled including meetings, debates, workshops and readings, and more than 200 speakers are expected. Many international guests, Cuban Carlos Manuel Álvarez, Russian dissident Mikhail Shishkin, Czech writers Bianca Bellová and Viktorie Hanišová, Ukrainian journalist Olesja Jaremčuk and from France François Beaune.
For historical reflection a protagonist for all, Ettore Cinnella, among the leading experts on Russian history in Italy, who will discuss totalitarianism and imperialism with Federigo Argentieri and Franco Andreucci.
An invitation to knowledge of Ukrainian history and literature, on the other hand, will be the task of Giulia Lami and Oleg Rumyantsev. The memory of Giovanni Falcone is entrusted to journalist Felice Cavallaro and his book Francesca. The Made in Tuscany section is as always well represented by the writers much loved by the young audience, Vanni Santoni, Marco Vichi, Paolo Ciampi, Simone Innocenti, while for the poetic moment the festival pays tribute to Renato Minore.
Among the new features is the Art Book format, conversations around art publishing and the world of illustration, which will take place at Palazzo Blu under the curatorship of Maria Chiara Favilla, head of the muse's permanent collections, and in collaboration with the publishing houses Polistampa, De Luca Editori d'Arte, Marinonibooks, Topipittori, Barta, EDT, and Interno Poesia.
Guests include curators of exhibitions and art historians, including Angelo Tartuferi, Lucia Bencistà, Nicoletta Matteuzzi, Francesco Solinas, publishers Giovanna Zoboli and Antonio Marinoni, illustrators Fabio Magnasciutti, Luca Ralli, Andrea Alemanno, Francesco Chiacchio, Enrico Pantani, photographer Marco Carlone and mathematician with a penchant for art, matem-arte, Silvia Benvenuti. Guest of honor for the new section: Guido Scarabottolo.
For more information and full program: www.pisabookfestival.com
