Actuality
Of Giorgio Brescia – June 14, 2024
From 15 to 22 June, in the historic center of Salerno, the twelfth edition of Salerno Letteratura: over one hundred and forty Italian and international guests will enliven meetings and discussions, paying a non-ritual tribute to the figure of Franz Kafka, to whom the festival is dedicated on the occasion of the centenary of death.
The theme of this edition is “The right questions” to try to question ourselves about the present and the future. The choice, explains one of the artistic directors, Paolo Di Paolo, “arises from an intuition of Kafka and, specifically, from a story by him entitled “Investigation of a Dog”. There is a moment when the narrator wonders how, among the many questions, he can come up with the right ones. Questions are always more important than answers and then, coming up with the right questions among the many possible ones is exactly the task of those who create culture.”
A section will be dedicated to Kafka, Meridiano K. “Meridiano K is played on Kafka seen as a line or an imaginary arc, or even a light or an ambiguous midday demon: a meridian, in fact, despite himself, a point of reference for proving to orient themselves in the twentieth century – clarifies the other artistic director Gennaro Carillo – Yet emerging disoriented: because Kafka remains an enigma, particularly in his apparently clearer pages. Then there is a new Kafka Meridian coming from Mondadori to which we can pay due homage… But “The right questions” also wants to be a provocative title: where everyone presumes to have the right answer, it is necessary to restore value to the act of doubting , to question and question oneself.”
Among this year’s protagonists Goffredo Buccini (who is entrusted with the inauguration), Walter Siti, Aldo Schiavone, Irvin Welsh, Aslak Nore, Roberto Esposito, Carlo Massarini, Daria Bignardi, Eva Cantarella, Ruggero Cappuccio, Fabian Scheidler, Carlo Galli, Massimo Carlotto, Antonello Caporale, Salvatore Merlo, Antonio Franchini, Cristina Battocletti, Eliana Liotta, Elisabetta Moro, Mauro Covacich, Laura Campiglio, Brunella Schisa, Antonio Moresco, Roberto Latini, Marino Niola, Lucrezia Ercoli, Marcello Flores, Maurizio Casiraghi, Lorenzo Marone, Sandra Petrignani, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Sabrina Efionayi, Donatella Di Cesare, Jennifer Guerra, Karima Moual, Piero Dorfles, Serena Bortone, Gabriele Pedullà, Roberto Esposito, Ivano Dionigi, Guido Vitiello, Maurizio Ferraris, Alessandro Vanoli, Vladimiro Bottone, Giulia Sissa, Vera Gheno, Marco Lodoli, Piera Carlomagno, Raphael Ebgi, Michele Masneri, Francesco Pacifico, Laura Pugno, Simonetta Fiori, Anna Foa, Nadia Urbinati, Antonio Spadaro, Eraldo Affinati, Gabriella Caramore, Ivano Dionigi, Ilaria Gaspari, Luca Crescenzi, Vincenzo Trione, Giorgio Fontana, Giulia Sissa, Cristophe Boltanski, Alessandro Giammei, Edmondo Bruti Liberati, Anna Maria Colao, Valeria Parrella, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Barbara Alberti, Filippo Ceccarelli, Eric Chevillard, Maicol&Micol, Mark ‘O Connell and many others.
This year’s speech is entrusted to Diego De Silva, who has always been close to the festival, and is rightly titled “The Wrong Answers”.
The sections of the festival are increasingly rich: Fictions; Verification of powers/politics/justice; Graphic Novels; Classical; The story of science; Meridian K; Space for kids; Views on the current world; Lusographies; Historical; Enchantment; Philosophy; Summer School and Reading School.
The collaboration with the Bellonci Foundation is renewed once again: the finalists of the Premio Strega who in July will compete for victory in Rome, in the Nymphaeum of Villa Giulia, will compete, in the atrium of the Cathedral, with the audience of Salerno Letteratura. The Diocesan Museum, however, will host the Business Literature Award, promoted by the Città Impresa-ItalyPost Festival. The event is organized in collaboration with the Salerno Chamber of Commerce and Confindustria Salerno.
As usual, the Salerno Book of Europe Award. The jury’s choice fell on Days of the Sea by Pierre Adrian (Blu Atlantis), The Witches of Manningtree by AK Blakemore (Fazi) and The Liquid Earth by Raphaela Edelbauer (Rizzoli).
There will be no shortage of voices among the most authoritative on the Italian scene: Anna Della Rosa, Monica Nappo, Roberto Latini. The writer Irvin Welsh, in addition to a dialogue thirty years after the publication of Trainspotting, will be the protagonist of a DJ set at the Diocesan Museum.
Numerous appointments were requested by the artistic directors Gennaro Carillo and Paolo Di Paolo, by the organizational director Ines Mainieri and by the curator of the children’s program Daria Limatola. Salerno Letteratura offers its Reading School: five meetings at Palazzo Fruscione with truly special teachers who will guide the public to discover the classics and more. The Graphic Novel section is rich and will see among the protagonists: Mario Natangelo, Maicol&Micol, Giulia Ciarapica.
Of note, then, is the collaboration with the Linea d’Ombra festival, which will see the screening of two films inspired by Kafka: the famous “The Trial” by Orson Welles and “The Castle”, a rare and precious film by the award-winning director Michael Haneke .
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