Cwith the novel The stone guests (Einaudi), Michele Mari won the thirteenth edition of the Premio Strega Giovani, promoted by the Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation and Strega Alberti Benevento.
With 83 preferences out of a total of 579 expressed, the book, a super favorite in the final race of the Prize, was the most voted by a jury of girls and boys between 16 and 18 years old coming from 114 Italian and foreign secondary schools. Second and third place went to Marco Vichi, author of Occhi di bambini (Guanda), with 74 votes, and Teresa Ciabatti, author of Donnaregina (Mondadori), with 65 votes. The three books receive a valid vote for the designation of finalists for the Strega Prize.
Stone’s guests: the plot
Through the gaze of an external narrator, the reader enters into the events of IIIA, class of 1974, and into the curious pact signed during a dinner which took place a year after graduation. The agreement is as simple as it is surprising: each will contribute a sum of money to a fund destined to grow over the decades until it becomes a real fortune.
From left: Stefano Petrocchi of Fondazione Bellonci, Giuseppe D’Avino of Strega Alberti, winner Michele Mari, the Mayor of Genoa Silvia Salis, the writer Loredana Lipperini. Credits: Giulia Ferrando
Who will receive that heritage? To the last three ex-comrades who manage to survive. What seems like a playful and reckless idea, almost a stunt whose origin no one remembers anymore, will soon end up taking on a very different weight. Each of the protagonists will discover, in fact, that that bet made in their twenties will profoundly influence their destiny. For some it will turn into a real obsession, for others it will represent the opportunity for redemption pursued since school days.
Anna Ricchieri wins Leggiamoci.it
With the story Patrick, Anna Ricchieri of the Liceo Ludovico Ariosto in Ferrara is the winner of Leggiamoci.it, the project promoted by the Bellonci Foundation and the Center for books and reading.
The victory was announced by Rossella Pace, Head of Schools of the Center for Books and Reading, based on the following motivation: «The meaning of the whole story is condensed in its incipit: “Incredible how death turned out to be the greatest opportunity to reflect on life.” The suicide of a school boy opens the narrator’s eyes to his inability to truly see what is around him, but also himself.”
