EVENTS Italy’s Season of Books

By Rossella Tercatin

Spring in Italy is always a time to rediscover the passion for books and culture.
After the Festival of Jewish Book in Ferrara, which was held at the end of April, the International Book Fair will be inaugurated in Turin on Thursday, May 14.

The main theme of this year will be “The Wonders of Italy”, a way to offer the visitors further opportunities to know better the country hosting Expo (May 1-October 31), while Germany will be the Fair’s Guest of Honor.

For the seventh consecutive year, a copy of Pagine Ebraiche will be offered to all visitors, who will be also able to meet some members of Pagine Ebraiche staff who will be featured in several events both at the Book Fair and in center Turin.

On May 14, the book “La Dieta Kasher” (The Kosher Diet) published by Giuntina will be presented by a panel who will include, among others, Jacqueline Fellus, the member of the board of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities in charge of Kasherut and religious affairs, Giorgio Mortara, president of the Italian Jewish Medical association, the journalist Alessandro Marzo Magno, the food blogger Benedetta Guetta and the author Roberta Anau, with Pagine Ebraiche journalist Ada Treves.

On the same day, literary critic Alberto Cavaglion, therapist Helen Brunner, Loriana Ursich, from the historic bookshop Libreria Caffè San Marco in Trieste; and Debora Tagliacozzo, from Libreria Bardotto in Turin and the publisher Massimiliano Schiozzi, will speak about “Judaism Close to Borders, and the Borders of Judaism”, referring to the work of some important Jewish Italian and European authors. Joining the panel will be also Pagine Ebraiche’s editor in chief Guido Vitale and journalist Rachel Silvera.

Among the events dedicated to Germany will be also the panel “Germany, Open Wound and New Home for Jews in Europe, with historian Gian Enrico Rusconi and journalist Manuel Disegni, who will be joined by Pagine Ebraiche journalist Francesca Matalon. The event will also include the reading of some passages from the book “Maybe Esther” by Katja Petrowskaja.