This is the 14th edition, just as 14 are the Municipalities, constantly growing, that this year are hosting one or more events of the Salento Book FestivalWe leave next Friday from Aradeo to stop at Gallipoli at the end of September, in a marathon of events and meetings with the author that, rightly, presents itself as the “movida” of readers. About 70 appointments strictly with free admission with 60 authors of national caliber. The literary event organized by the cultural association Festival Nazionale del Libro, conceived and directed by the journalist and TV author Gianpiero Pisanello, for the 2024 edition stops in Aradeo (Piazzetta Ss. Annunziata), Castrignano dei Greci (Palazzo De Gualtieris), Collepasso (Palazzo Baroniale), Corigliano d’Otranto (Piazza San Nicola, Piazzetta Vittime di Mafia and Castello Volante) Cutrofiano (Piazza Municipio), Galatone (Palazzo Marchesale), Gallipoli (Teatro Garibaldi and Sala Coppola of the Civic Museum), Nardò (Piazza Pio XI and Cesare Battisti), Parabita (Piazza Regina del Cielo), Racale (Piazza San Sebastiano), Specchia (Piazza del Popolo), Tricase (Atrium of Palazzo Gallone and Piazza Pisanelli).
Special events
Two special events: the Candido185 store in Jerseys hosts Chiara Valerio on August 5th at 9 pm with her book “Chi dice e chi tace” (Sellerio): the author is among the five finalists of the Strega prize, which will be awarded next Thursday and in Salento she could arrive as the winner. At the Barrio Verde in Alezioon September 5th at 9 pm, Fabio Canino presents “RaffaBook. More than a book, a Saturday night show”. And finally a third, unmissable event: at the Garibaldi theatre Gallipoli On September 17, Strega Prize winner Nicola Lagioia will hold a lecture entitled “Soon I’ll Know Who I Am. A lesson on the art of telling stories through literature, from Homer to the present day”.
I topics
But everything will be discussed, as usual, during the various evenings of this itinerant festival that brings culture to castles, courtyards and squares: current affairs will be present in the first appointment (Friday 5 July in Piazzetta Ss Annunziata, 8.30 pm, in Aradeo) with the linguist Vera Gheno who presents “Grammamanti. Imagining futures with words” (Einaudi) and then with the lawyer and civil rights activist Cathy La Torre who will talk about her “Non è normale” (Feltrinelli).
Proceeding randomly in a program made only of meetings to mark in the calendar, you can meet Gino Cecchettin in Specchia with his “Cara Giulia” or Selvaggia Lucarelli who in Galatone and Corigliano will talk about the “Ferragni Case”, the rise and fall after the pandoro gate. Again, many journalists are guests of the festival: from Luca Telese and Vittorio Zincone, who retrace the lives of two politicians who have marked the History in Italy (Giacomo Matteotti and Enrico Berlinguer) to Francesca Fialdini who will talk about eating disorders, up to Serena Bortone with her “A te vicino così dolce” and the Salento native Antonio Caprarica who will talk about “The end of England”.
Culture, customs, current events and reflections not only through books: the program includes a meeting with Furio Andreotti, screenwriter of the award-winning film “C’è ancora domani” by Paola Cortellesi. And the singer Gigliola Cinquetti talks about herself, with her fictionalized autobiography that reveals memories, anecdotes and behind the scenes. Among the guests – impossible to name them all – also the world champion coach Fefè De Giorgi, pride of Salento, who presents the book “Egoisti di squadra”. Luciana Littizzetto is back in style, this time to present the book “Io mi fido di te”. Also on the program is a series of meetings that focus on Salento, observed from different points of view: Luigi De Luca, director of the Polo Biblio-museale of Lecce, presents his pamphlet on the topic; Federico Mello talks about his latest book dedicated to the cultural and tourist rebirth that began in the early 2000s; Maria Chiara Provenzano, instead, reconstructs the long experience of the Teatro Koreja. The novel by journalist Marco Ferrante is set in Puglia. There really is an embarrassment of riches to choose from.
The solidarity initiative
The solidarity initiative “Libro sospeso” has been confirmed again this year. At each event it will be possible to purchase a book to be donated to the projects of the Pediatric Onco-Hematology department of the “Vito Fazzi” hospital in Lecce and the Diocesan Caritas of Nardò-Gallipoli.
