TO starting from today and until 7 September, Mantua returns to being the center of international culture. Its squares, Renaissance buildings, cloisters and cobbled streets will once again turn into open -air theaters, ready to welcome writers, readers and curious who will participate in Festivaletturatura 2025a collective rite in which stories, reflections and, above all, the pleasure of being together to discuss what happens in the world are intertwined.
Festivaletteratura, a world champion made of books
Each edition of the Festival is a journey and, this year, The compass aims towards four authors symbol of different continents. Mariana Enríquezwith its social Gothic that tells the fears of Latin America, will bring the darkness of Buenos Aires to Mantua. Ocean Vuong It will come from the United States with its pages that mix family memory, Poetry and Asian diaspora. From Japan comes Mioko kawakamicapable of telling the female condition with a direct and moving language. And then there is Ali SmithScottish voice that irony can read the contradictions of contemporary Europe. Next to them, there are authors who choose to overturn the maps: the Caribbean writer Jamaica Kincaidwhich made the postcolonial resistance literature; Adania ShibliPalestinian who puts the violence of employment on the page; and Elgasyoung Senegalese who writes with the sharp irony of identity and migrations.
Literatures that challenge the boundaries
If the holiday is a map, however, it is also An invitation to climb over the boundaries. In Mantua, so, it also arrives Armistead Maupinthe legendary author of Tales of the citywhich in the seventies told the San Francisco Queer. With him, Camila Sosa Villadawho in his novels intertwines his experience as a trans woman with a powerful and universal writing. The billboard is enriched with other expected items: Elizabeth StroutPulitzer prize and teacher of the intimate novel, returns after almost ten years. Nathan Hillconsidered among the most promising American narrators, brings the freshness of a new generation. And from Chile comes Alejandro Zambraauthor capable of telling the present time with lightness and depth.
Every year thousands of people meet in Mantua for five days, where literature stops being only a private experience and becomes an opportunity for community (@instagram)
Europe in all its nuances
Great attention this yearas regards Europe, on the Netherlandswith eight authors who will give voice to a country often neglected by the great international narrative. There will be Jan Brokken and Frank Westermanmasters of narrative reportage, and Eva Meijerwhich combines philosophy and literature. From Eastern Europe comes Marija StepanovaRussian poet exiled to Berlin, which tells memory and story by intertwining verses and prose. From Ireland arrives Paul Murray, awarded with the European witchwhile British poetry is represented by Polly Clarkauthor capable of moving between nature and introspection. And again, the Switzerland of Pascale Kramer and Lukas Bärfussthe Norway of Jan GrueCatalonia of Irene Solà and Germany of Fatma Aydemir. A real map of a restless but vital continent.
Italians between memory and new voices
Of course, there is no shortage of Italian writers. Antonio Scurati He returns to Mantua after closing the long narrative cycle on fascism that a reference author made him. Roberto Saviano And Teresa Ciabatti They will dialogue on the relationship between organized crime and female condition. There will also be Marcello Fois And Carlo Lucarelliwho move between mystery and family sagas. The festival does not fail to give space even to those who tell disappear and roots, such as Mario Desiati And Nadeesha uyangoda. And there is no shortage of curious beginnings: Antonio Albanesewith a tender and ironic family novel, e Stefano Raponewhich brings to the page the same grotesque vein as its comic sketches.
The wounds of this
Mantua does not close his eyes on the world. Gaza will be at the center of the meetings with writers such as Adania Shibli and Atef Abu Saifbut also with historians and journalists who try to decipher a conflict that marks our era. Space also to the war in Ukraine, told by reporters and authors who have collected direct testimonies. There will be rumors that suffer other injuries: From the massacre of Srebrenica to the war in Syriaup to a wider reflection on the role of the war images that we consume every day through the screens.
Echoes from the past and looks on the future
Next to current affairs, the festivaletteratura does not forget the story: The 500 years of Palazzo Te are celebratedwith meetings on Luther, Bembo and humanism. There is a tribute to Goldoni and his link with Mantua, and a series of Appointments dedicated to Agatha Christiethe queen of yellow. But the program also looks to the future: from environmental issues with Luca Mercalli and other scholars, to the musical paths who range from Deep Listening to Indian music, passing through reflections on sport, fashion, love and science.
Five days to get lost and find yourself
In short, more than a calendar of events, festeralturatura is a collective experience: five days in which Mantua turns into an open city, ready to welcome stories, ideas and dialogues. And where, walking between squares and courtyards, you come across writers from afar, and every conversation becomes an opportunity to get to know the world with your eyes.