The 59th edition of the Campiello Prize unexpectedly goes to Giulia Caminito who with “The water of the lake is never sweet” (Bompiani), dedicated herself to the radical concerns of youth in the intricate story of Gaia: early 2000s, diving in « motionless waters of an existence without horizons ». “Thanks to everyone who has worked with me, my family, my readers. I dedicate the award to women and their ability to read and write anywhere in the world ». So the writer commented on the award.
The writer had 99 votes out of the 270 received by the Popular Jury of Three Hundred Readers Anonymous. In second place “If the water laughs” (Einaudi) by Paolo Malaguti, 80 votes, in third “Sanguina still” (Mondadori) by Paolo Nori, 37 votes, in fourth “The happiness of others” (La nave di Teseo ) by Carmen Pellegrino, 36 votes and in the fifth “The book of houses” (Feltrinelli) by Andrea Bajani, 18 votes.
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On the other hand, what many gave as favorite, Paolo Nori for the novel Sanguina still did not win. The Incredible Life of Fëdor Michajlovic Dostoevskij, published by Mondadori.
The Literary Jury, chaired by Walter Veltroni, expressed its preference during the award ceremony from the Venice Arsenal (according to the organizers “symbolic place of the genius of the Venetians and their know-how”), broadcast live on Rai 5 and streaming on Rai Play starting at 8:30 pm with the conduct (without flickers for a really too long evening) by Andrea Delogu. Daniela Gambaro had already won, in the previous weeks, the Campiello – Opera Prima with Ten almost true stories (Nutrimenti).
The five
The five finalists were quite fierce: in addition to Caminito and Nori, there were also Bajani with “The book of houses”, Paolo Malaguti with “If the water laughs” (Einaudi), Carmen Pellegrino with “The happiness of others”. Bajani gave space to the distress of the subject – the novel’s protagonist is conventionally called “I” – to conquer a true identity against the lying parts of our being, The job of the river boatman (a bit like McCarthy’s Suttree) is at the center of Malaguti’s book, “at the helm of the tapered flat-bottomed burchi”, when summer is on fire and human adventures multiply. A story of passing and growth, with the pain and the memory of the loss always lurking. Finally Pellegrino, on the other hand, represented the ghosts and shadows of a woman, Chloe, “removed from the village for pure cruelty”.