Controversy stalks Italy’s honourary status at Frankfurt Book Fair

Italian delegates arrive at the 76th Frankfurt Book Fair as the national guest of honour, the first time Italy has been given the venerated position since 1988.

At the world’s oldest and biggest book fair, the Italian delegation is led by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) and represented by Alessandro Giuli, Italian Minister of Culture alongside a selection of the nation’s celebrated writers. However, the presence of politicians from Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s government and the absence of key literary figures has stoked questions over their inclusion.

The Frankfurt Book Fair’s history dates back over 500 years, before the advent of printed books. At first, there was a small fair for selling handwritten books with the more formal fair established after Johannes Gutenberg pioneered the printing press in the 15th century.

Its current iteration came when the fair was re-established after World War II in 1949. Since 1976, the fair has selected a country as the guest of honour. Each guest of honour is provided with a special exhibition hall and an entire literary programme dedicated to their industry.

Italy has only been guest of honour once before in 1988 and takes over from last year’s guest of honour, Slovenia.

Attendees and absences

Among the Italian delegation at the fair are their three keynote speakers: physicist and author Carlo Rovelli, writer Susanna Tamaro and philosopher Stefano Zecchi. The rest of the programme is replete with some of the biggest names in Italian literature, although the press has quickly pointed out one notable absence: Roberto Saviano.

Saviano, 45, is famous for his writings on exposing Italian organised crime, most notably with his investigative journalism book “Gomorrah”. He’s been the subject of several death threats and spent time under police protection.

When Saviano wasn’t announced among the initial line-up of Italian delegates, many commentators read it as the government’s repudiation of the writer for his critical vision of Italy and outright criticism of the far-right Meloni government. The prime minister sued Saviano last year for €1,000 after he called her a “bastard” in a TV interview.

Saviano has since confirmed that he is attending the fair at the request of its director, Jürgen Boos.

Addressing his absence, Innocenzo Cipolletta, president of AIE, tells Euronews Culture that the programme was created through publisher proposals of which Saviano “was not initially included”.

“Other great Italian writers were missing, and obviously any absence is a great regret but, on the other hand, respecting the procedures is a way of guaranteeing impartiality,” Cipolletta explains.

“There were many misunderstandings, and we are sorry about that, but no one ever intended to exclude Saviano for political reasons. And I would add that we are happy that he is here in Frankfurt anyway,” he says.

Saviano has spoken out about the situation, claiming he doesn’t “think [his] presence in Frankfurt is a victory but a form of resistance”.

A contemporary scene

Looking back to Italy’s last time as guest of honour, many considered it to be a peak for Italian literature. Figures like Umberto Eco dominated the global literary community while future Nobel Prize-winner Dario Fo continued to tour his beloved and controversial play “Mistero Buffo”.

Italy’s motto for the 2024 edition of the fair is “Roots in the Future”, an aspiration to look forwards with an appreciation of their rich heritage. Cipolletta says that today represents a new high point in Italian publishing with sales at an impressive new high post-pandemic.

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“New authors who tell the story of today’s Italy are appearing in bookshops, in publishers’ proposals,” Cipolletta says, emphasising that Italian literature’s global reach has also grown as over the past 20 years, “the translation rights we sell abroad have quadrupled”.

Over 90 authors are travelling to Frankfurt as part of the official delegation including Alessandro Baricco, Annalena Benini, Paolo Cognetti, Claudia Durastanti, Antonio Franchini, Nicola Lagioia, Claudio Magris, Francesca Melandri and Igiaba Scego.

Although not part of the official delegation, Saviano is also set to have a discussion with co-chair of PEN Berlin, Deniz Yücel, on “Literature & Politics. Writing in Illiberal Times”.

Despite the array of ambassadors for Italian literature, other Italian writers have voiced concerns about the programme’s pro-Meloni bias.

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“Freedom of expression is punished in our country,” Paolo Giordano, an Italian writer known for his novel “The Solitude of Prime Numbers” told the press. “That’s really true, it’s not just an impression.”

Others have claimed they’ve been outright censored by the state. Antonio Scurati, whose novel “M. Son of the Century” recounts the rise of Benito Mussolini, said he’s been denied the right to speak on state radio for Italy’s national holiday. “This happens to people who are critical of power,” he said on Wednesday in Frankfurt.

Cipolletta, president of the AIE, rebukes the suggestion of delegates being censored at the fair: “All the authors here in Frankfurt are free to address any topic, to express themselves freely within the Italy Guest of Honour’s Pavilion, which, not by chance, is a square, a symbol of confrontation and civicism,” he says.

“They are doing it, they will do it, no opinion is forbidden and on the contrary it is encouraged, in full respect of course for the ideas of others.”

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The Italian delegation has been led by minister of culture Alessandro Giuli – a Meloni loyalist and has been the subject of controversy over his previous comments supporting Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin – but Cipolletta assures that the AIE acts independently of the government.

“No opinion is forbidden and on the contrary it is encouraged, in full respect of course for the ideas of others,” he says.