The Scottish launch of The Little I Knew, the English translation of Chiara Valerio‘s novel Chi dice e chi tace (Sellerio, 2024), a finalist for the 2024 Strega Prize, was held on 19 June 2025 at Pilrig St Paul’s in Edinburgh. The book, translated from Italian by Ailsa Wood, was published by Foundry Editions on 10 June 2025.
The meeting in Edinburgh was the final stop on the presentation tour in the United Kingdom, after London and Bristol, and was organised by the Italian Cultural Institute of Edinburgh, in collaboration with the publishing house Foundry Editions and the bookshop Topping & Company Booksellers of Edinburgh. In a conversation with Richard Village, founder of Foundry, Chiara Valerio explored the themes of the novel, talked about the city of Scauri, the women and characters who live there, as well as about literature and much more, also answering questions from an engaged and curious audience.
On the occasion of the launch, at the Institute’s library, Chiara Valerio also met the students of the Italian Book Club, who read and analyzed Chi dice e chi tace, L’inverno più nero by Carlo Lucarelli and Le otto montagne by Paolo Cognetti as part of the Club’s activities.
