To celebrate the centenary of Italo Calvino’s birth, the Cultural Institute in Tunis has organised a series of literary meetings and an exhibition of illustrations to narrate the work of the great Italian writer. Five Tunisian writers and six Tunisian illustrators will be the protagonists of this initiative, which will take place from July to December.
The event focuses on Tunisian literature and world of illustration and Italo Calvino – who is the most widely read and loved Italian author in the Arab world – in order to reflect on the writer’s work and launch an unprecedented and evocative dialogue with the culture of the North African country.
Five literary encounters entitled “Dialoghi tunisini su Calvino” (Tunisian Dialogues on Calvino) are scheduled to take place in Tunis, starting on 26 July; the writers involved are Chokri Mabkhout, Inès Abassi, Azza Filali, Ali Bécheur and Amira Ghenim, whose works have all been translated and published in Italian. The exhibition, entitled “Calvino: oltre il visible” (Calvino: beyond the visible), will be inaugurated in October during the Italian Language Week. The illustrations on display, entirely unpublished and inspired by the writer’s works, are by Ahmed Ben Nessib, Sonia Ben Salem, Aymen Mbarki, Seif Eddine Nechi, Othman Selmi and Kamal Zakour. The exhibition, held at the Mille Feuilles bookshop in La Marsa, is curated by Anna Gabai and Abir Gasmi.
