Fifty years of life, 45 participating publishing houses, 110 books received, 5 selected works: these are the numbers of the next edition of the Itas Prize, the literary prize dedicated to publications related to the world of the mountains. The jury chose the finalists as follows: the overall winner will be announced as part of the Trento Film Festival scheduled (in streaming version) from April 30th to May 9th.
The edition is the 47th even if 50 years are celebrated, the reason is simple: between 2012 and 2016, the competition took place every two years, returning then in 2017 to the annual frequency following the high number of authors eager to participate and the growing attention from the public towards mountain publishing.
The eight thousand are the protagonists of the finalist work for the section “Mountaineering and mountain sports“: Bernadette McDonald in her “Winter 8000” (Mulatero publisher) dedicates a chapter to each of the 8000 meters giants and tells the challenge of man to conquer the winter summit, from Everest to Manaslu, from Annapurna to Lhotse, from Nanga Parbat to K2 …
A small town in the Sibillini Mountains, hit by the seismic events of 2016/2017, is instead at the center of the book “Ussita (Monti Sibillini), published by Edicicli: in practice, a guide where the main voice is that of the community that dialogues with writers, artists , sociologists, photographers and historians, accompanies stories and hopes along itineraries and paths between past and future.
The “Children’s Books” section is represented by the work “Memories of the forest” by Damir Karakas (Bottega Errante Edizioni): the protagonist is a boy with a mysterious heart problem who lives in a Lika village, in the deep Balkan province. Telling his story speaks of family, community, villages scattered in the mountains and witchcraft.
Daniele Zovi is the finalist for the “Research and environment” section: his “Autobiography of the snow” (Utet) tells of a love
started as a child while watching the flakes go down slowly. Finally, the work of Marco Albino Ferrari (Ponte alle Grazie editions) for the section “Mountain life and stories”: in “My unknown” the author sketches the fascinating portrait of his mother, “rebellious daughter of the best bourgeoisie”, on background of peaks, woods and glaciers. But not only.