17 June 2021, 9:00
Sala Conferenze Internazionali
streamed live at
www.esteri.it
and www.premiostrega.it
The Strega Prize tour will also be stopping at the Foreign Ministry. On 17 June, at 9:00, in the International Conference Room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, there will be a presentation of the five shortlisted finalists of the 75th edition of the prestigious Italian literary prize, organised by the Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation with the support of the Strega Alberti liqueur producer of Benevento, an event that will be live streamed at the esteri.it website and on the Farnesina YouTube channel.
The meeting, moderated by the Rai Uno journalist Serena Bortone, will be opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio and will focus on the foreign relations of the finalist authors and on the growing role, within the Prize jury, of the 240 jury members selected by the Italian Institutes of Culture (IIC) abroad, alongside the historic panel of 400 Amici della Domenica.
The collaboration between the Italian Institutes of Culture (IIC) and the Strega Prize began in 2009 and has grown steadily over the years. In 2020, in collaboration between the Ministry and the Prize, the number of institutes taking part in the jury was increased from 20 to 30, and the number of jury members from 200 to 240, testifying to the increasingly international dimension of the Strega Prize and the important work of promoting Italian literature around the world, carried out by both the Foreign Ministry and its cultural network. The IIC jury members, who each express an individual vote, are chosen among personalities from the world of literature, culture and publishing in the countries where the institutes are based, remain anonymous and change periodically.
To date, the following IICs are included in the international jury of the Strega Prize: Abu Dhabi, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Cairo, Lyon, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Montreal, Moscow, Paris, Beijing, Prague, San Francisco, St. Petersburg, Santiago, Shanghai, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Warsaw, Vienna and Washington.
The five finalists (in alphabetical order: Andrea Bajani with Il libro delle case (Feltrinelli), Edith Bruck with Il pane perduto (La Nave di Teseo), Giulia Caminito with L’acqua del lago non è mai dolce (Bompiani), Donatella Di Pietrantonio with Borgo Sud (Einaudi), and Emanuele Trevi with Due vite (Neri Pozza)) will speak remotely.
