The numbers and presence of Calabria at the Turin International Book Fair
FORTY-ONE publishing houses, 220 authors, 85 meetings, 20 Calabrian authors who requested participation as individuals and not as publishing houses, a claim “Journey to the heart of Calabria: an exciting symphony of poetry, history and art. We look forward to seeing many of you in a modern and welcoming stand, to spread the vitality, lights and colors of our Calabria throughout the world” and a strong reminder of enchantment, because “…This land could be made into paradise”, quoting Saverio Strati.
Seen from the XXXVI edition of the International Book Fair, scheduled in Turin from today to 13 May, Calabria is a region that reads and produces culture (and books). The latest Istat findings, published in April 2023 and relating to 2022, say otherwise, but it could be a detail. Calabria was in last place in the ranking of the regions with 23.9% of readers who read at least one book in a year, despite an Italian average of 41.4%. Within this segment, the percentage of those who had read at least three in a year fell to 54.7% (55.3% in the previous year), while it rose to 10.0% (9.8% in the previous year) who has read more than twelve. But things may have changed in Calabria, given the numbers at the Book Fair and “Taurianova Book Capital 2024”, to which a panel will be dedicated on the morning of Saturday 11 May, the data could be more comforting.
«The slogan – declared Vice President Princi, regarding the presence of Calabria in Turin – takes up a suggestion and a hope of Saverio Strati on the centenary of his birth; the great Calabrian writer will be remembered at the Salone with a series of meetings and thematic insights with the contribution of authorities and scholars and men of letters such as Goffredo Fofi, Gioacchino Criaco, Giancarlo Cauteruccio, Giuseppe Polimeni, Luigi Franco, Benedetta Borrata, Mario Musolino, Elisa Chiriano, Luigi Tassoni”.
Speaking of Saverio Strati, the writer born Sant’Agata del Bianco on 16 August 1924 who died in Scandicci on 9 April 2014, in 2009 the then Quotidiano della Calabria, under the direction of Matteo Cosenza, promoted the request to make obtain the benefits of the Bacchelli Law for the writer, who lived in conditions of poverty. A battle won. Strati, an exponent of a certain neoralism, described Calabria as mother and stepmother. Of the farmers, of those who broke their backs. «We worked with a pickaxe to be able to clean the land properly from weeds. We no longer had nails, given that with each blow we had to remove handfuls of couch grass, turnip roots, wild mint, nettles and many other rubbish items that devour the substances of the earth. Behind us were piles of ballast. Mountains. The cultivated land was literally covered with it” (from “The Savage of Santa Venere” – Campiello prize 1977).
As part of the Turin days, the poet Franco Costabile from Lamezia will also be remembered on the centenary of his birth. Numerous guest authors: Professor Piergiorgio Odifreddi, the writers Carmine Abate, Angela Bubba, Mario Caligiuri, Gioacchino Criaco, Domenico Dara, Mario Fortunato, Mimmo Gangemi, Raffaele Gaetano, Mauro Francesco Minervino, Tonino Perna, Vito Teti, Giordano Bruno Guerri and Olimpio Talarico. Several Calabrian schools will be present at the Show: the IC Ardito of Lamezia Terme, the Liceo Mazzini of Locri, the Liceo Galilei of Paola, the Liceo Morelli of Vibo Valentia. Many others will follow the online meetings through the platform that will be made available by the Region, in collaboration with the Calabria school office.
«Even in this edition – finally highlights Vice President Princi – the rich and participatory program will give us the opportunity to tell the country about a different Calabria which gives value to its artistic, cultural and historical heritage which must be increasingly exported and valorised. At the Turin Motor Show we want to show the world a Calabria that believes in culture as a driving force for development and as a prerequisite for the education of new generations.”
