The opening of the 30th Turin Book
Fair on Thursday saw long queues at ticket offices and entry
gates.
This year marks the first time Italy's top book fair has
taken place since the launch of a rival event in Milan - Tempo
di Libri (Books Time).
Officials have said the Turin event is "irreplaceable"
despite the presence of its ambitious upstart rival.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Senate Speaker
Pietro Grasso, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, Education
Minister Valeria Fedeli and Turin Mayor Chiara Appendino, among
other dignitaries.
Deputy speaker of the Chamber of Representatives Luigi Di
Maio was also present and noted in reference to "those who have
tried to compete" that "the original is always better".
Over 1,200 events and 80 festivals are involved in this
year's fair but the large publishing groups Mondadori and Gems
are not, with the exception of Il Punto Einaudi and Bollati
Boringhieri.
Feltrinelli, Sellerio, E/O, Fazi, La Nave di Teseo and Giunti
are all present, however, and medium and small publishing houses
have this year made a major showing and some authors and events
will be seen even if their publishers will not have stands, such
as Yasmina Reza with her new book 'Babilonia', published by
Adelphi.
Minister Franceschini commented on the comparison with the
Milan fair, which was not as successful as had been hoped that
"we need to wait until the end of the fair to compare the two
and see whether some form of collaboration can be brought in.
Whether we can move from non-competition to collaboration and
integration."
He added that "we help films and opera with public subsidies,
why can't we help books?"
Minister Fedeli meanwhile announced that "we have set aside
2.5 million euros more to fund the first 1,000 innovative school
libraries in Italy and we will announced the winners in June."
Senate Speaker Grasso praised the exhibiting publishers,
saying that they are the "symbol of courageous entrepreneurship
able to defend its cultural and economic independence while
exploring innovative terrain".
On Friday at 5:30 PM, Defense Minister Roberta Pinotto will
be taking part in the fair with a debate on the book 'Un Mondo
Degno dei Nostri Figli' ('A World Worthy of Our Children'),
which brings together translations of some of former US
president Barack Obama's best speeches. Moderating will be the
journalist Paolo Valentino, who curated the introduction.
On Saturday at 11 AM, Defense Chief of Staff Claudio Graziano
will be speaking at the presentation of two books: 'Special
Operations', an in-depth look at Italian special forces, and
'Nome in Codice Ares', which tells the story of Andrea Adorno,
who was granted a gold medal of honor for military valor in
Afghanistan.
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