New Bridge Book Award Makes Its Debut In Milan
A new book award appeared on the literary horizon this year, one that celebrates the cultural understanding between two countries. The Bridge book award honors Italian writers that have released books in the United States and American writers that have released books in Italy. Five winners are nominated for each category- American fiction, American nonfiction, Italian fiction and Italian nonfiction. Out of these twenty authors, only four receive awards. The panel of judges that selects recipients is comprised of university professors and cultural experts from each country.
The award was launched with a ceremony hosted by Maria Gliozzi, founder and director of the American Initiative For Italian Culture Foundation, in Milan in June 2015, where Gliozzi, Maria Ida Gaeta, Director of the Casa delle Letterature of the Rome municipality, and Philip t. Reeker, U.S. consul general of Milan, all spoke about the new annual award. The voting takes place in a two part vote. In September, the judges voted to narrow down a list of twenty finalists, and in October the judges announced the four winners of the award. According to wetheitalians.com, Gliozzi, said “What we are really interested in is the cultural exchange and to support young talents, give them visibility, allowing them to travel among the two countries and to bring them in totally new cultural contest…our passion in discovering new talents spreads to another AIFIC’s activity, and that’s Literature. Through the promotion of freshly published novels and essays we collect the most recent literary trends in the two countries.”
The winners of 2015 are Domenico Starnone (Lacci), Quinto Antonelli (Storia Intima Della Grande Guerra: Lettere, Diari e Memorie dei Soldati), Laird Hunt (Neverhome), and Robert Pogue Harrison (Juvenescence: A Cultural History of Our Age). These four selected authors receive a monetary prize, get their book translated in to the opposite language, and also have the opportunity to travel to the country that their book is published in to attend ceremonies to receive their awards. American winners are honored in Rome and Italian winners in Washington D.C. with organized ceremonies. After the ceremonies, the authors will begin a promotional tour featuring their award-winning books.
Upon arrival, the two American winners meet all organizations involved in organizing and supporting the award. They are then awarded on October 15th in Rome at the American embassy with the U.S. ambassador to the Italian republic, John R. Phillips, and with Italian literary experts present at the ceremony.
The two Italian winners are awarded on October 19th in Washington D.C. at the Italian embassy. After the ceremony, a discussion between the winners and distinguished literary and writing professors from America is held on D.C. Then the winners will go to Calandra institute and the Italian culture institute in New York.
These first annual book award ceremonies were organized and sponsored by Casa delle Letterature of the Rome Municipality, the National Italian American Foundation, the American Embassy in Rome, the American Initiative for Italian Culture and the Federazione Unitaria Scrittori Italiani. Many other organizations aided in the creation of this cultural literary award, such as the Italian Embassy, the Calandra Institute and the Italian Culture Institute in New York.
-Marisa Wherry
