I will be at L’universita di Cagliari (doesn’t that sound so much better than University of Cagliari?) for a reading and discussion. Here are the details:
Monday, October 08, 2007
6 pm
Reading and Discussion
University of Cagliari
Department of Anglo-American Literature
Cagliari, Italy
The event will be in English.
I arrived at Mel Bookstore early on Friday to give myself time to explore the place before the time came for my reading there. I asked my editor why it was called ‘bookstore’ and not the Italian word for it, and the response was that many of these bookshops use that word to look more hip. Dear God, I thought, do they really think that using the American word for libreria might make people read? Anyway, as always when I am outside the U.S., I’m always startled to see what American titles are stocked by foreign bookstores. This was my first surprise: The huge stack of Walt and Mearsheimer’s new book, The Israel LobbySchmaltzy best-sellers were everywhere.
It was a nice surprise when I stumbled on this huge stack of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
Anyway, take comfort where you can find it. People in Ferrara, Italy, are reading Cormac McCarthy.
My main event here at the Festival Internazionale in Ferrara takes place this Saturday afternoon. Here are the details:
Saturday, October 6, 2007
4:30 pm
Panel on Fiction and Journalism
With Arundhati Roy, Laila Lalami, Efraim Medina Reyes, and Elif Shafak
Moderated by Goffredo Fofi
Festival Internazionale
Cinema Apollo
Ferrara, Italy
You can view the entire lineup for the festival right here. If you’re an Italian reader of my book, or my blog, or are just curious, please come by and say hello.
I am doing a reading from the Italian edition of my book (La speranza e altri sogni pericolosi) at Mel Bookstore tomorrow night. Here are the details:
Friday, October 5, 2007
6:30 pm
Mel Bookstore
Piazza Trento e Trieste
Palazzo San Crispino
Ferrara, Italy
I hope Italian readers can make it.
After a journey that took me on planes (three), trains (two), and automobiles (two), I am now in Ferrara, Italy, to attend the Festival Internazionale in Ferrara. I am staying in a converted monastery and my room is very bare, with just a bed, a desk, and a dresser. There is no internet access, and the phone doesn’t let me make outgoing calls. A large crucifix hangs on the wall above my bed. The red-tiled hallways, the old furniture, the multiple Christs on the cross everywhere remind me of the grade school I attended, which was also in a converted Catholic institution in Rabat. There are relatively few cars on the cobbled streets of the village, because most people ride bicycles. So it’s very quiet and peaceful, and I find myself thinking what a great place this would be to write a book. But I am here to talk about one: The Italian edition of my book just came out, and my publicist is starting things off with a reading here. More soon, I hope.