Book Pride, the national independent publishing fair, will be held from 8 to 10 March, hosted in the pavilions of Superstudio Maxi (Via Moncucco, 35 – Metro Line M2 Famagosta). “What do we want” will be the theme that will guide this eighth edition of the literary event – promoted by ADEI, the Association of Independent Publishers, in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan and the patronage of the Lombardy Region – which will also see the birth of the Book Sport section.
In a city like Milan, which has always been at the forefront for competitive competitions and which is now preparing to host the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the organizers of the Book Pride Fair have decided to expand the offer and imagine a space of programming entirely dedicated to the world of sport.
With this in mind, basketball star Gigi Datome makes his “entry into the team”. One of the greatest Italian basketball players, so much so that he went on to play in the NBA and lead the Italian national team before his retirement, as a curious and passionate reader this year he will take on the role of “special curator” to organize a capsule of meetings between sport, music and literature. Datome will talk about basketball with the sports journalist Fabio Tranquillo and about music with the rapper and singer-songwriter Ghemon, thus discovering all the facets of a passion that goes from sport to books, passing through music.
Great space for tennis and Italian tennis in particular which is experiencing magical years. Speaking about it will be one of the best Italian tennis players ever: Adriano Panatta, for years holder of a record – as the only Italian to reach the top 4 players in the world – and only today joined by Jannik Sinner, positioned in 3rd place.
Panatta, together with Domenico Procacci and Stefano Semeraro, respectively publisher and director of Il Tennis Italiano: the oldest magazine in the world dedicated to racket sport, born in 1929, which today is renewed and enriched with a cultural dimension with new contents linked to literature, cinema and entertainment, thanks to contributions from great writers, comics, illustrations and prestigious signatures.
In an edition of the Fair that debuts on March 8, on International Women’s Day, there could not fail to be space for women’s sport. We will talk about it with Giorgia Bernardini and Elena Marinelli, two of the authors of Fundamentals (66thand2nd): because the visibility now achieved by women’s sport has demonstrated that it is no longer possible to talk about the exploits of Federica Pellegrini, Paola Egonu and the other athletes, without liberating the narrative from the canons established in the past to celebrate men’s sport: a feminist perspective cannot be ignored.
But great protagonists will also be the sports that have always made Italians’ hearts beat, such as football, which will be told by television critic Giorgio Simonelli, author of Quasi Gol (Manni Editori). A sport made legendary also thanks to sticker albums: it is precisely in this form that the publisher Garrincha dedicates a series of biographies of the heroes who played football on the pitch. From the Garrincha told by Darwin Pastorin, who with “bowed legs” won two World Cups alongside Pelè, up to Gigi Meroni, the Italian George Best.
Instead, he is at the center of the meeting with Fabrizio Maiello, protagonist and author of the autobiography written with Franca Garreffa In the prison of mad criminals (KappaVu editions), the broken dream of a career as a professional footballer and the subsequent rebirth after long years of suffering and detention precisely thanks to the leather ball.
In the Book Sport program there is also space for two legends who, with their legendary lives, have conquered a much wider audience than just fans: Ayrton Senna and Rocky Marciano. A meeting hosted by sports journalist Giulia Toninelli, author of Ayrton Senna, will be dedicated to the Formula 1 world champion. Fierce eyes, children’s eyes (LAB DFG editions). While a talk show performance will be dedicated to the Italian-American boxer with Dario Ricci, author of Rocky Marciano. On the trail of the myth 1923- 2023.