The 2020 Online Edition of the Von Rezzori ‘Festival of Writers’

This year the 14th edition of the Festival of Writers will engage the public from May 26 through May 28, despite the pandemic putting this singular literary Florentine festival online. The author conversations (which will take place in each novelist’s and guest’s native language complemented by Italian subtitles) and other happenings of the three-day festival are set to be streamed via the Santa Maddalena Foundation’s Youtube channel, as well as the Casa del Cinema/Regione Toscana website www.cinemalacompagnia.it.  Even the English actor Ralph Fiennes will make an appearance.

Although the literary festival would normally occur across the city from the Palazzo Vecchio to the city’s bookstores, the coronavirus emergency has forced the Foundation to reconsider how to honor and celebrate these phenomenal writers. The cornerstone of the event is the Premio Gregor von Rezzori or City of Florence prize, awarded to the best work of foreign fiction published in Italian within the last year, which will be revealed on the evening of May 28.

An international jury shortlisted the following five authors for the 2020 City of Florence prize: Lebanese-Canadian author Rawi Hage for his bildungsroman (a novel focusing on a protagonist from adolescence to young adulthood) Il gioco De Niro about two childhood friends in Beirut (translated by Anna Tagliavini); Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa for his latest work Morire è un mestiere difficile (translated by Maria Avino); French journalist and writer Philippe Lançon for La traversata (translated by Alberto Bracci Testasecca); author Richard Powers’ 12th novel Il sussurro del mondo (translated by Licia Vighi); and Argentine author Samanta Schweblin for her dystopian novel Kentuki (translated by Maria Nicola).

The selection pays tribute to the best.  Richard Power’s Il sussuro del mondo was originally published as The Overstory, which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  Philippe Lançon’s La traversata is the Italian edition of Le Lambeau (the English edition is Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo) is the writer and journalist’s award-winning eyewitness account of the 2015 terrorist attack which targeted collaborators, including himself, of a French satirical newspaper during a staff meeting in 2015.  Samanta Schweblin was twice nominated for the prestigious Man Booker prize.

The Festival of Writers will open at 5 pm on May 26 with introductory remarks by the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, who will then present the president of the Foundation: Ernesto Ferrero. Each edition of the festival invites a prominent international writer to be the keynote speaker and discuss a theme pertinent to the present: this year American-Mexican author Jennifer Clement will discuss “Poetry and Errors.”

The following evening, May 27, beginning at the same time and ending after 7 pm, the five selected authors on the shortlist will engage in a conversation with a member of the jury. Alberto Manguel will open with Rawi Hage at 5 pm, followed by Hisham Martar and Khaled Khalifa, Maylis de Kerangal and Philippe Lançon, Edmund White and Richard Powers, and concluding with Andrea Bajani with Samanta Schweblin at 7 pm.

This year’s festival award for best Italian translation will be given to Monica Pareschi for her translation of Wuthering Heights (Cime Tempestose) by Emily Brontë. The classic British novel from the gothic era tells the story of a romance between two unlikely characters: an orphan named Heathcliff and his foster sister, Catherine. Originally published under a pseudonym, Brontё’s work remains prominent in British literary history. Pareschi herself maintains a reputation as one of the most important Italian translators, known for her interpretations of English and American authors from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Thursday, May 28, the final day of the online festival, will primarily focus on Pareschi. The evening will start again at 5 pm with Italian actor Fabrizio Gifuni reading an excerpt from Wuthering Heights, followed by the introduction of Pareschi by jury member Andrea Landolfi, who selected Pareschi for the prize. At 6 pm, English actor Ralph Fiennes, who starred in the 1992 film adaptation of Wuthering Heights as male protagonist Heathcliff, will speak on behalf of Beatrice Monti––a longtime friend––and the Santa Maddalena Foundation. Afterwards, the audience may listen to selected songs from the 1992 film.

The evening will conclude shortly after with an introduction given by Florence deputy mayor Cristina Giachi, followed by the official announcement of the winner of the Premio Gregor von Rezzori, by the founder of the Foundation herself Beatrice Monti della Corte.

The Santa Maddalena Foundation was established in 2000 by Monti della Corte in memory of her late husband, author and filmmaker, Gregor von Rezzori, known for his novels and autobiographical works. Beatrice has been involved in the writing and art worlds since a young age, opening the Galleria Dell’Ariete in Milan in 1955. She married Gregor in 1967 and shortly after they restored a cluster of buildings in Tuscany which became Santa Maddalena.

Since 2007, the Foundation has spearheaded Florence’s only literary festival by honoring selected authors from an international jury. The current jury includes Monti della Corte herself, Ernesto Ferrero, Andrea Bajani, Maylis de Kerangal, Andrea Landolfi, Alberto Manguel and Edmund White.  Finalists, and interested writers, may also apply for residency at the foundation’s tranquil estate, located outside of Donnini. Here, they may find literary inspiration amidst the natural scenery. Thus far the Foundation has hosted 170 authors including Colm Tóibín, Zadie Smith, Michael Cunningham, and Sally Rooney.

Beatrice Monti believes the pandemic will not stop the city’s tradition, nor literature’s ability to connect and relieve our minds––as is especially crucial during a crisis. Regardless of whether the festival takes place online or in the heart of Florence, its aim is to establish an open discussion between authors and the public about literature. Tune in this week to experience the power of words across languages––and screens. The full program of this year’s festival can be found on the Santa Maddalena’s website. (elizabeth berry)