Genoa Book Capital 2023: rich program of initiatives presented

The rich program of activities of Genoa Book Capital 2023, which includes 22 exhibitions, 9 festivals, 12 shows and readings, 175 presentations and extraordinary library openings, was presented at Palazzo Tursi. From September 2023 to April 2024, the Ligurian capital will thus host a series of initiatives, including public readings, exhibitions, reading promotion events, interventions at city libraries, projects aimed at schools and families, and much more, that will involve the entire city and the world of Genoese culture. Indeed, among the objectives are the promotion of book culture, the strengthening of the urban library system and theaccessibility of the book heritage, and the dissemination of knowledge of Genoa’s cultural heritage through books.

Pages unfolded! is the project theme that led the jury of the Ministry of Culture to choose Genoa as the Italian Book Capital 2023. The title derives from seafaring language and maritime tradition: just as sails unfold to gather the wind and propel boats to new shores, explorations and adventures, so the pages of books unfold to become accessible, give shape to stories and memory and be tools of knowledge, enhancement, active and participatory citizenship. The book as a versatile and multifaceted tool, capable of becoming a vehicle for social inclusion with a crucial role in the civic growth of a community.

Special ambassador of the initiative is Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with The Interpreter of Sicknesses in 2000.

As Book Capital 2023, Genoa will host big names in Italian and international literature, such as Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and Mexican writer Guadalupe Nettel. Palazzo Ducale will host from Oct. 15 to April 7 the exhibition Calvino cantafavole (Calvino storyteller), marking the centenary of the writer’s birth. The scenic itinerary is created by Fondazione Luzzati Teatro della Tosse. For the Berio Central Library’s 200th anniversary, the library will promote a rich program of cultural and recreational events that will allow visitors to rediscover the library as a place for gathering and participation. It will also open its doors in the evenings during extended hours. The program also intends to present the book within the publishing dynamics of its creation and promotion, through events, activities and fairs (first of all, the fifth edition of Book Pride) that, in addition to authors, will involve publishing houses as well as editors, publishers and other publishing professionals. Participants in the initiatives organized by Palazzo Ducale will be able to receive about 7,500 free volumes from Fondazione Carige’s heritage dedicated to Genoa and Liguria.

Between January and March 2024, there will also be La pagina e il palcoscenico: quando il libro incontra il teatro (The Page and the Stage: when the book meets the theater), a project with which the National Theater is participating in the Genoa Capital of the Book program and which includes different types of appointments around books: from the reading marathon dedicated to Italo Calvino (The Writers’ Night at Palazzo Ducale on February 23), to poetry, passing through fairy tales and stories for children and young people, to meetings in collaboration with Rome’s “Libri Come” Festival.

The rich calendar will have as its ideal conclusion the 13th edition of La Storia in Piazza dedicated to the theme Book and Freedom, curated by Luciano Canfora, Franco Cardini and Anna Foa. Cepell (Center for Books and Reading) is preparing a monographic issue of Cittàchelegge magazine, a periodical of publishing culture and reading promotion, entirely dedicated to Genoa and the Genoa Book Capital 2023 program.

Many of the initiatives of Genoa Book Capital 2023 will then focus on the active involvement of the citizenry and the promotion of social inclusiveness, through the creation of events that are not limited to specific age groups and social groups, but encourage encounters and exchanges among them. Educational activities for youth and schools will be paired with workshops and laboratories for the elderly and meetings with cultural mediators for the city’s migrant communities.

Worth mentioning is the initiative Let’s bring a book to prison, organized by Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura together with the Community of Sant’Egidio of Genoa. A number of authors will take part in meetings with inmates of the Genoa Pontedecimo Prison, talking about the stories contained in their works.

In addition to extended hours and extraordinary openings of the libraries of the urban library system, which will be a place and home for citizens, many initiatives will also aim to bring the book to neighborhoods and places where literary enjoyment is poorly accessible and widespread with free distribution of volumes, home delivery and literary itineraries that allow people to discover the city even in its lesser-known corners.

The full list of initiatives is available at www.visitgenoa.it

Photo: GenovaMoreThanThis (IG lieslseeber)

Genoa Book Capital 2023: rich program of initiatives presented

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