Digital first was not yet the path to follow, only one of the social networks we know today was in vogue, male and female authors “told” themselves to readers exclusively in the rooms of the Lingotto. But even then they were also doing it at the stand Press, and from there to anyone, anywhere through live videos on the website. For a long time our daily e Tuttolibri, the first cultural insert born in Italy (next year it turns 50 and has recently had the journalist Francesca Sforza as its new manager), have chosen to bring together the protagonists of the Book Fair even for those who cannot be in Turin or those who cannot find a place at the meetings. To allow an even wider audience than the one that always crowds the stands to experience the excitement and cultural variety that have made it an inimitable event from the beginning.
We started about fifteen years ago with a flying camera, chasing the protagonists around the pavilions, then we started inviting them into a tiny studio which, edition after edition, became bigger and bigger. And given the curiosity of those who passed by and glimpsed a beloved author or author, we first removed the glass and since last year also added poufs to stop for ten minutes or an entire afternoon to watch our interviews live. This year too, in live streaming or always available on the site’s homepage and in the web special, The print will bring the Salon to all of you.
From Thursday we will start every morning at 8.30 with the live press review, hosted by the director Andrea Malaguti and the deputy director Annalisa Cuzzocrea who you will find at the stand of The print at the Oval during the day together with journalists from the editorial offices Culture, Tuttolibri, Web e breaking latest news of Turin. Then a non-stop of interviews: narrators and showbiz personalities who lend themselves to writing, essayists who observe our time and content creators who tell it in new ways. And protagonists in spite of themselves in dramatic true stories that we told you in the newspaper. Like Gino Cecchettin with his book Dear Giulia. What I learned from my daughter.
In no particular order and without being able to mention everyone (there are around fifty appointments on the calendar), let’s start by finding out who you can meet at our stand, on our website or on our social networks. There are the big international names, from Elizabeth Strout, who we will have as guests after the inaugural lecture, to Joël Dicker, James Ellroy and Jeff Kinney, for the first time at the Salone with his Schiappa which in Italy has enjoyed even greater success than elsewhere. Don Winslow who announced that he wanted to say goodbye to novels, Yu Hua, one of the most influential authors of contemporary China, and the mysterious (or mysterious) Nicolas Barreau who, stopping to meet the public in the Gold Room, will come to reveal his hidden identity. And then the crime writers, Gianrico Carofiglio, Maurizio De Giovanni, Gabriella Genisi and Alicia Giménez Bartlett, all in bookstores with their readers’ most loved detectives, who have become protagonists of films and TV series. With Francesca Giannone, author of the best-selling novel of 2023, The postman, we will begin to discover his new story, coming out in June. With Felicia Kingsley, queen of the charts, we will chat about romances and the reasons why they are so loved that they have conquered one of the thematic sections of the Salon. With Viola Ardone of her novels which have found new life on stage and on TV (in a successful tour Ambra Angiolini played Oliva Denaro and The children’s train is about to become a Netflix series).
To learn more about the candidates for the Strega Prize, there will be Donatella Di Pietrantonio, Valeria Parrella, Raffaella Romagnolo, Chiara Valerio and Dario Voltolini. Francesca Fagnani will talk about the criminal Rome of today, which cannot be seen, that of a political massacre in the capital freed from fascism and Nazi occupation, Walter Veltroni in dialogue with Marcello Sorgi. There will be no shortage of forays into the most controversial current affairs, with Jacopo Iacoboni, Gianluca Paolucci and Antonio Talia telling the secrets of Italy’s Putinists and a look at Africa which is among us told in the new book by Karima Moual. And to remain faithful to the continuous flow in which to choose between pure writers and narrators in different forms we invited Domenico Starnone and Zerocalcare, Antonio Franchini and Guido Catalano, Daria Bignardi and Paolo Ruffini. From the cinema, Ferzan Özpetek arrives at the Salone and on our stage, whose new novel, like his previous ones, immediately reached the top ten, and Vinicio Marchioni, in his debut. As well as Serena Bortone who will not fail to take a look at current events.
We will talk about the importance of lightness (another path of the Salone) with Alessia Gazzola, Dario Vergassola and Pera Toons. Of podcasts and social communication with Elisa De Marco and with the most loved teachers: Vincenzo Schettini who teaches the “physics we like” and Matteo Saudino “BarbaSophia”. And then the music, with Big Mama, Luca Barbarossa, Tommaso Zanello “Piotta”, Stefano Senardi and Manuel Agnelli.
The program is packed, but there is always room for a surprise visit. And the “live” continues on our social networks, on Instagram and TikTok, with behind the scenes, the best of each interview, advice from journalists and writers. Readers, readers, here we are. The “imaginary life” is now.