Sunday, 1 February, at 3 p.m. at SIAL.school, 154-156 Holland Park Avenue, London W11 4UH
Book O’Clock with Gloria Danili presents Nel mio giardino il mondo, written and illustrated by Irene Penazzi
IN ITALIAN
BOOK O’CLOCK is the book club for children aged 4 to 11 run by the Italian Cultural Institute in London. It began online in September 2021 on the ICI London channels and, since 2023, has continued in person in a refreshed format at SIAL.school.
Gloria Danili – children’s and YA author, as well as the creator and host of BOOK O’CLOCK – hosts a sparkling fourth edition!
On 1 February at 3pm, our creative Book O’Clockers, led by Gloria in the beautiful setting of the Scuola Italiana on Holland Park Avenue, will — through the magical “medium” of Irene’s picture book — re-imagine with their imagination their home garden or their favourite London park as the most fun, poetic and adventurous place ever dreamed of!
After leafing through the album and listening to the audio message from the author-illustrator, immersing themselves in the enchantment of nature, the Book O’Clockers will use DAS (a synthetic, mineral-based modelling paste) to create, colour and bring to life natural elements such as leaves and flowers.
As always, don’t forget to set your watches: story time is about to strike again!
Image Credit: Omar Carraro
Book your place HERE
Irene Penazzi is an Italian author and illustrator based in Venice. She works mainly with colored pencils and watercolors. Her images are inspired by her childhood memories and the nature that surrounds her.
She studied illustration at Bologna Fine Arts Academy. Her thesis project was a wordless picture book titled Dans le jardin and was published by Maison Eliza in 2018. In 2019 it was translated into Italian with the title Nel mio giardino il mondo by Terre di mezzo Editore and was selected in the Ibby Honour List 2020.
She is the author and illustrator of Dans la montagne (Su e giù per le montagne, 2021), A la mer (I giorni del mare, 2024) and La natura in città (Editoriale Scienza, 2025). She also illustrated Poesie della casetta by Italian author Rita Gamberini (Topipittori, 2023), winner of Premio Gianni Rodari 2024 and the White Raven Award 2024, and L’uomo con il cappotto verde, by Davide Calì (Lapis Edizioni, 2024), winner of Premio Letterario Giovani Lettori Venice Gardens Foundation Natura 2025 in the category Narrativa e Saggistica 6-8 anni.
Irene’s artwork was selected in the 2024 Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition. Her illustrations were showcased in the “Italian Excellence. The New Generation of Children’s Illustrators” exhibition at Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2021. website | irenepenazzi.com instagram | irenepenazzi