Rome, “Libri Come. The Book and Reading Festival” at the Parco della Musica Auditorium

Ennio Morricone returns to the Auditorium Parco della Musica, from 22 to 24 March, Books How. The Book and Reading Festival edited by Michele De Mieri, Rosa Polacco and Marino Sinibaldi: meetings, lessons, dialogues, shows, exhibitions with many names from Italian and world literature gathered in a great festival produced by the Musica per Roma Foundation.

For the XV edition Libri Come chose the word as the guiding word, as the compass of many of its meetings Humanity. First the pandemic, then the wars, in Europe – with the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and in the Middle East, with the umpteenth and bloodiest phase of the Arab-Israeli conflict, make the use of this word an almost daily occurrence. As has happened for some years, the inauguration is double: one in the morning in eight high schools in the city where eight male and female writers will go (Caterina Bonvicini, Laura Buffoni, Annalisa Camilli and Giulia Caminito, Mauro Covacich, Piero Dorfles, Polo Pecere, Romana Petri, Licia Troisi) to present their books, meeting teachers and students; in the afternoon of Friday 22 March we continue in the rooms of the Auditorium, where we begin with the first meetings that will accompany us for three days, until Sunday evening. As always, there are many international authors who will animate this edition: Asmaa Alghoul, Julian Barnes, Elif Batuman, Boris Belenkin, Àngeles Caso, David Grossman, Gohar Homayounpour, Raphael Kraftt, Etgar Keret, Andrej Kurkov, Bjorn Larsson, Alex Mar, Ottesa Moshfegh, Selim Nassib, Sofi Oksanen, Selby Wynn Schwartz, Tamar Weiss-Gabbay.

They will talk about the Israeli-Palestinian situation after the 7 October attack by Hamas and Israel’s reaction Etgar Keret, David Grossman (Peace is the only path), Tamar Weiss-Gabbay (La meteorologia), Asmaa Alghoul e Selim Nassib (autori di The rebel of Gaza). The conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Navalny affair will be at the center of the speeches Andrej Kurkov and Boris Belenkin: the first is the most prominent Ukrainian writer, the second, a writer and activist, is the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner for the work of preserving the Memorial biographies library. He will then talk about Russian culture Paolo Nori in his lesson.

The meetings with the Iranian psychoanalyst will deal with the persecution and killing of women in various contexts Gohar Homayounpour (Blues a Teheran), with the Finnish writer and playwright Sofi Oksanen (author of Against women. Rape as a weapon of war), and the one with the American writer Selby Wynn Schwartz, Sappho’s daughters (Book of the Year for New York Times Book Review).

In this context Libri Come also welcomes the presentation of the book che Gino Cecchettin he dedicated to his daughter Giulia. Don’t miss the meetings with Elif Batuman and Ottessa Moshfeghtwo of the most brilliant authors of recent American literature, at Libri Come Present, respectively Or or e McGlue. Just as the one with the Spanish flu promises to be very interesting Angeles Caseauthor of a novel based on the events of the Brontë sisters (All this fire).

The lessons are a key part of the proposal that has always characterized the Libri Come program, this year among the names called to the lectures in the Auditorium there are: Massimo Recalcati (The human and his worst), Roberto Saviano (Like James Baldwin. Portrait of a great writer), Paolo Benanti (How can artificial intelligence make us more human?), Elena Stancanelli (Carrion! Is it okay to eat animals?), Paolo Nori (A night at the Russian museum).

Lots of dialogues around the theme of the festival and on some important upcoming books: Zero limestone con Jacopo Zanchini, Chiara Valerio con Serena Dandini, Gianrico Carofiglio con Francesca Schianchi, Diego Bianchi e Marco Damilano, Emanuele Trevi e Andrea Cortellessa, Ermanno Cavazzoni e Vinicio Capossela, Francesca Archibugi e Francesco Piccolo (around The Story of Elsa Morante recently shown on television), among the sales champions Francesca Giannone e Felicia KingsleyBetween Francesco Costa e Francesco PiccoloBetween Donatella Di Pietrantonio e Massimo Giannini, Between Bjorn Larssson (To be or not to be human) e Giordano Meaccibetween Sandro Portelli and Lutz Klinkhammer, between Antonio Franchini e Mario Ten and many more.

Three tributes from Libri Come on Saturday: we start with a memory of Franco Basaglia one hundred years after her birth, on the same day a reading tribute to the writer Flower Jaeggy (with Chiara Valerio, Elena Stancanelli, Teresa Ciabatti and Antonio Gnoli), and then a Alberto Arbasino with Andrea Cortellessa and Michele Masneri (Arbasino AZ).

At the final event, How to remain human in times of war?, Sunday 24th at 6.30pm, dedicated to the two fronts where fighting has been taking place in recent months, Andrej Kurkov, Etgar Keret and Francesca Manocchi will take part, together with Marino Sinibaldi. Following, in the Sinopoli Hall, Ascanio Celestini for the review Stories and Counterstorieswill bring Toni Mafioso on stage.

For the little ones, in the Ludoteca space, the Animated Readings by the La Ciliegia Association: two stories for girls and boys aged 4 to 8 which address the theme of the encounter with “diversity” and the strength of friendship and of mutual aid, unfold within a scenario linked to the elements of water and the marine world. There will be no shortage of exhibitions and musical performances. For all the information on the program, consult the website.