The extraordinary journey of Marco Poloarchetype par excellence of exploration and contamination between cultures, in the year in which we celebrate 700 years since the death of the illustrious Venetian, it will also inspire the events organized in the Editori Veneti – Veneto Region stand at the Turin Book Fair. Real journeys and imaginary journeys, in time and space, journeys to think, explore, discover, in the wake of this year’s theme “Real lives, imaginary lives”. At Lingotto, in the large spaces of the Oval Pavilion, we will find well twenty-five publishing houses in Veneto, with a total of thirty meetings organised.
We begin with “Real lives, imaginary lives: the journey of Marco Polo as a bridge between different cultures” which sees the introductory greeting from Chiara Finesso, President of the Venetian Publishers Association and the interventions of Roberto
Ciambetti, President of the Veneto Regional Council; Vittoria Poggio, Councilor for Culture of the Piedmont Region; Davide Quadrio, Director of the Oriental Art Museum of Turin. Journalist Luca Ferrua moderates the meeting.
The Venetian Publishers Association, in collaboration with the Veneto Region, participates in the XXXVI edition of the Turin International Book Fair which this year is titled “Imaginary Life”. The event will be held from 9 to 13 May 2024: an opportunity to meet and exchange between publishers and
among the different “actors” of the publishing panorama: the general public, but also booksellers, librarians, teachers and students, distributors, journalists, authors and all those who… live from books.
The institutional stand of the Veneto Region and the Veneto Publishers Association (Stand V125-U126 – Oval Pavilion) it will host twenty-five Venetian publishing houses, members of AEV, who will have their own exhibition space at their disposal. These are: Abra Books, Alba, AltroMondo, Anteferma, Antiga Edizioni, Caosfera, Ciclope Lettore, Cierre, Diastema, Ediciclo, Edizioni 03, Edizioni Bette, Edizioni Il Frangente, El squero, Helvetia, Il Poligrafo, Itinera Progetti, Kellermann, Le Tre Venezie, Mazzanti Libri, Nuovadimensione, Panda, Peacock, Piazza, SimeBooks.
On the occasion of the celebrations for the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death in 1324, the embroidered panel “Story of Marco Polo” (1951) by the artist Zoran Mušič was reproduced for the stand graphics. The story unfolds from left to right and develops in five panels, four gods
which on two registers, accompanied at the top and bottom by some inscriptions taken from Il Milione. In the large panel, played on earthy tones, we find those iconographic and stylistic themes that Mušič had developed after the Second World War, once he returned to Venice after the terrible experience of being deported to Dachau, when he resumed painting, opening up to life again. The work is the guiding image of the exhibition dedicated to the great Venetian traveler hosted at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice until
to 29 September 2024, entitled: “The worlds of Marco Polo. The journey of a Venetian merchant in the thirteenth century” curated by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.
In collaboration with the Department of Culture of the Veneto Region, the programming of a series of events and presentations has been planned which will take place within the collective stand and will extend for the entire duration of the event: around thirty appointments with
the participation of numerous guests, authors and speakers of interest to the public, and the involvement of prominent personalities from the world of institutions, culture, journalism and entertainment.
Among the many meetings, starting from May 9th we highlight the presentations of “The little girl with the suitcase. My journey through the memories of an exile at the time of the Foibe” by Egea Haffner and Gigliola Alvisi (promoted by the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia). A journey to Istria in search
of their roots starting from Fertilia, a place of welcome for hundreds of Istrian exiles and where there is a museum of the Exodus named after Egea, the “little girl with the suitcase” with the writing “Giuliana Exile N. 30,001” who has become an icon of the diaspora Julian-Dalmatian. The first day will end with the meeting organized by the publishing house “Il Poligrafo” in collaboration with the National Cinematographic Archive of the Resistance of Turin. The authors Adriana
Lotto (ISBREC – Belluno Historical Institute of Resistance and the Contemporary Age), Mirco Melanco (University of Padua) and Romina Zanon (University of Padua) will present,
together with Micaela Veronesi, of the National Cinematographic Archive of the Resistance of Turin, the book “Mario Bernardo ‘Radiosa Aurora’. A life dedicated to cinema and photography” which tells of the valiant partisan leader and great popularizer of neorealist cinema, Mario Bernardo (1919-2019), director of cinematography and collaborator, among others, of Pasolini and Gregoretti.
Friday 10 May the day will open with the publishing house Abra Books which will present the thriller “Special Envoy. Crimes in the shadow of the CIA” by Francesco Amadelli and the essay “Alterne derivations beyond the horizon” by Duilio Carpitella. Following the presentation of the titles of the publishing house “Edizioni 03” with the
participation of Mauro Mazza, journalist and extraordinary government commissioner for the Frankfurt Buchmesse 2024.
There are many meetings scheduled during the weekend: Saturday 11 May, we would like to point out, among others, the appointment with the presentation of the collective volume which brings together the views of over twenty authors, mostly Mexican, to tell the story of the place to which the Benetton Foundation dedicates the thirty-third edition of the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for the Garden . Benetton Studi Ricerche Foundation and Antiga Edizioni are in fact organizing the presentation of “L’Espacio Escultórico e il
landscape of Pedregal de San Ángel, Mexico”, with the speakers Luigi Latini, Director of the Benetton Studi Ricerche Foundation and Patrizia Boschiero, head of the Benetton Studi Ricerche Foundation Editions.
Among the Saturday afternoon appointments also the presentation of “Il quaderno del cinema” by the blogger @nonsofarfoto published by Kellermann Editore, with the participation of the actress Cinzia Leone: 25
unforgettable films, their stories, the protagonists. A journey into the seventh art through film genres, places, objects, characters, seasons, colors, and much more. The dialogue follows
between the visionary artist Alessandro Bulgini, some authors and the editor of the Venetian publishing house El squero.
At 3.30 pm in Arena Piemonte (Pavilion 2), as part of the program of the “National Literary Competition Lingua Madre” the meeting “Free to imagine the world” will be held. The feminism of Aida Ribero” during which the book “With strength and intelligence will be presented. Aida Ribero 1935-2017” edited
by Daniela Finocchi and Michela Marocco and published by the Il Poligrafo publishing house. Lucid thinker, journalist, essayist, Aida Ribero reveals herself through the written word for her lively intelligence, her
foresight and undoubted modernity. Her books are responsible for the fundamental reconstruction of the history of feminism and women in search of a new identity. The historian Liliana Guazzo Lanzardo and Luisa Ricaldone, of the Italian Society of Letters, will talk about it, together with journalists and scholars. Kellermann Editore will close the day on Saturday with the presentation of “Borgogna. Stories of adults
French wines” by Francesco Piccat, followed by a wine tasting curated by Davide Debernardi of the Turin delegation of the AIS – Italian Sommelier Association.
Sunday 12 Mayafter the presentation of “Donna, io”, a collection of stories in favor of Arci Centro Donna organized by Ciclope Lettore, the artist Giulia Lazzaron will present her “Venus” (publishing house
Peacock) with the Fumo magazine collective. The book offers a fascinating journey into contemporary art and explores the Japanese cultural point of view on the body positive phenomenon.
They will open on the day of Monday 13 May the meetings with Mario Caligiuri, who presents his essay “Geopolitics of the mind”, and Laura Venturi, author of “Confessions of a body”, published by Mazzanti Libri. In the afternoon, two books will be hosted that promote the change towards a healthier lifestyle: “Lakshmi Ayurveda” by Franco Canteri (Edizioni Il Punto di Incontro) with Anna Martellato, journalist and author; and “The hamburger revolution” by «la Repubblica» journalist Marco Panara,
published by Post Editori, in dialogue with my colleague Paolo Griseri.
The Festival is also an opportunity to remember that, in Veneto, the Il Veneto legge reading marathon takes place, now in its 8th edition, whose main event will take place on Friday 4 October 2024. Among the main themes that will guide the readings for the 2024 edition, in addition to Venetian authors and books that talk about Veneto, will be sports literature in its broadest and most daring declinations, the celebrations of the personalities of Marco Polo, Eleonora Duse, Giacomo Matteotti.
Source Editori Veneti press office
Venetian Publishers Association
e-mail: [email protected]
