On Saturday evening, the Teatro La Fenice welcomes a thousand people, including institutional guests, representatives of business, culture and publishing, for the grand finale of the Premio Campiello 2024. This year’s edition – the 62nd – is rather uncertain, hosted by Francesca Fialdini, a well-known face on Rai 1, accompanied like last year by the incursions of Lodo Guenzi, leader of Lo Stato Sociale and actor, and by Luca Barbarossa, who will intervene during the show with some musical contributions. The appointment is for 8:30 pm, with live television broadcast on Rai 5.
The absolute protagonists are naturally the selected novels and the authors who will compete for the coveted ‘well certificate’:
- The fire you carry (Marsilio) inside by Antonio Franchini (read the review)
- The Wizard’s House (Ponte alle Grazie) by Emanuele Trevi (read the review)
- Place of Desperation (Einaudi) by Michele Mari (read the review)
- Soul (Feltrinelli) by Federica Manzon (read the review)
- It’s spreading everywhere (Laterza) by Vanni Santoni (read the review).
During the ceremony, the winners of the other awards provided by the Il Campiello Foundation will be awarded, including the winners of the Opera Prima, assigned to Fiammetta Palpati for The White Orphans’ House (Laurana Editore) and the Il Campiello Foundation Award, the lifetime achievement award given this year to Paolo Rumiz.
What is the best novel nominated for the Campiello Prize (in my opinion)
Giulia Arnoldi wins the Campiello Giovani
Meanwhile, on Friday evening, Giulia Arnoldi, an 18-year-old from Dalmine (Bergamo), won the 29th edition of the Premio Campiello Giovani, a competition reserved for young people between 15 and 21. Her story, Just before the last chordwas selected by the jury because “in a few pages it skillfully orchestrates a crescendo of narrative tension anchored to a war story and told through a narrative voice that is also an epistolary voice. It unfolds, letter after letter, in a diminuendo that leads to death, provoking an unfortunately current reflection on the implacable violence of war”, as stated in the official motivation.
