Montalbano creator Camilleri to turn 90

(ANSA) - Rome, September 4 - Andrea Camilleri, creator of Inspector Montalbano, arguably the most famous fictional detective in Italy, will celebrate his 90th birthday on Sunday.
    In honor of the occasion, Camilleri's original publishing house Sellerio is offering two special-edition ebook collections as well as two print collections.
    The first ebook, 'Le indagini di Montalbano' (Montalbano's Investigations) contains all 23 Montalbano books, and the second, 'I romanzi di Vigata e altro ancora' (The Vigata Novels and Even More'), is a collection of 23 novels and other pages of stories that Camilleri set in the imaginary city of Vigata, where the Montalbano stories take place.
    Both ebooks will be on sale only through September 6, at a cost of 90 euros each.
    On September 7, Sellerio will release a limited-edition set called "I sogni di Andrea Camilleri" (Andrea Camilleri's Dreams), an anthology of dreams told in his novels together with a collection of 48 postcards of his Sellerio books.
    Sellerio will also release a celebratory volume called "Gran Teatro Camilleri" (Camilleri Grand Theatre), a series of essays about his work, written by critics and intellectuals. Even the mayor of Sicilian town Agrigento, located just 10 minutes from Porto Empedocle where Camilleri was born, has decided to celebrate the writer's birthday by starting the process for declaring Camilleri an honorary citizen.
    Camilleri became a best-selling author after he turned 70, and his books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
    "I didn't think I was capable of enough imagination for such a long series, but I managed to do it," Camilleri told ANSA on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Inspector Montalbano.
    And of his famed character, Camilleri said, "He's a monument that's there, still destined to grow for a few years.
    He'll end when I do".