The Tuscany stand inaugurated at the 36th edition of the Turin International Book Fair, a leading event on the national and international publishing scene. Among this year’s novelties is the Gregor von Rezzori prize for young poets, promoted by the Regional Council of Tuscany, and created by the Santa Maddalena Foundation.
The Tuscany stand
The Tuscany stand is a 150 square meter space that hosts a selection of titles from 33 small and medium-sized Tuscan publishers, the GP Vieusseux scientific-literary cabinet, the four Tuscan Unipresses, the Region’s braille printing house, the Pietro Leopoldo Tuscany Library and Tuscany books.
The program of events
There are 60 events in total that Tuscany brings to the event which has dedicated and will also dedicate ample space to Tuscan reviews, festivals and literary prizes. Among these the literary festival ‘Slightly’ of Livorno, now in its sixth edition, which will take place in July in the park of Villa Fabbricotti and will host authors from all over Italy. Again, the ‘Pisa Book Festival’, the independent publishing fair, now in its 22nd edition, which will be staged in October in the city of the Leaning Tower. And then the ‘La città sul Ponte’ competition in Florence, now in its ninth edition, managed by the authors’ association GSF (Gruppo Scrittori Firenze) composed of two parts: narrative and poetry.
What’s new for 2024
New this year is the Gregor von Rezzori award which develops and supports the Regional Council’s law proposal to Parliament Read free, aimed at introducing a space for free reading into the school timetable of schools across the country. In fact, it has the objective of valorising the best poetic compositions written by students of upper secondary education institutions in Tuscany. To stimulate their creative writing, the students were invited to choose and read a work of poetry in the silent reading space provided during the lessons.
More than 1,000 people participated in this first edition 160 students coming from four schools in three different provinces. The three winning poems were selected by the jury of the Gregor von Rezzori Prize – City of Florence for foreign fiction. Furthermore, 50 compositions, considered particularly worthy by the jury, will be collected in a booklet published by the Santa Maddalena Foundation and distributed during the awards ceremony, which will be held on May 30th in the Ferri Room of the Vieusseux Literary Scientific Cabinet of Palazzo Strozzi.
The project was inspired by the poster The Democracy of Imagination, signed by Jennifer Clement, president of PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) International. Clement had given the Lectio magistralis Poems and errors on the occasion of the 14th edition of the Gregor von Rezzori Prize – City of Florence in 2020.
