Saturday 24 October, 3pm at the Victoria Library, 160 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TR
BOOK O’CLOCK is the book club for children aged 4 to 11 promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute in London – in collaboration with Gloria Danili, Italian-London author of books for children and young people, and SIAL School. It was broadcast online from September 2021 on the ICI London channels, continued live from 2023 at the school in Holland Park, and from February 2026 it will make an appearance among the shelves of the Children’s Room – within the wonderful setting of the Victoria Library.
At the next appointment on 24 October, Gloria Danili awaits you with a truly very special picture book because, just think… it was conceived and written by her!
It is “La mia strana vicina”, written by Gloria Danili, published by Edizioni Corsare and illustrated by Ericavale Morello.
It is a story of witches and magic, inspired by the (real) move of Gloria and her family from one side of London to the other; it is a journey into the imagination of Gloria and Erica, among enchanted herbs, “a lady with very long silver-coloured braids,” “smoke and scents, flowers and music,” and contemporary references, from David Bowie to the Beatles, from Harry Potter to Maurice Sendak and his wild things.
After immersing themselves in this book – perfect for the month of October and the approach of Halloween – the book o’clockers will prepare magical potions, with flowers, little glass bottles, miniature animals and enchanted words!
As always, don’t forget to set your clocks: story time is about to strike again!
PS Participation in the event is free upon registration – with the full name of the accompanying adult.
Book your place HERE
Ericavale Morello was born in Turin in 1983, where she lives and works. She studied Architecture at the Politecnico di Torino, where she obtained a PhD in collaboration with the FAIP faculty of Porto on freehand drawing in relation to architectural design. She graduated from the International School of Comics in Turin. She teaches art and image in lower secondary schools; she is a professional illustrator and painter. She grew up breathing a great passion and interest for pictorial art through her father, an indefatigable researcher and collector. Since December 2020, together with Francesca Tancini, she has curated the online project of which she is co-author, “Storie di illustrastorie”, which became a book in November 2021. She made her debut as author and illustrator with the multi-award-winning Vendesi Casa D’artista (March 2023) for Camelozampa (finalist for Andersen, Soligatto, White Ravens 2023, Marchio microeditoria di qualità and second place Premio Malerba 2024), followed by Raperonzolo (finalist for the Premio Rodari 2025) with text by the Brothers Grimm (November 2024) and Traslochi d’artista (March 2025) with special mention for microeditoria di qualità, again for Camelozampa. Other picture books include La Caccia al tesoro di Zazie (with text by Elena Levi) for Clichy and Gli stivali di Vincent for Bummy ed. (April 2026 with text by B. Sidoti), the first volume of a series she conceived that unites fairy tale and art and that will see her collaborating with different text authors. In recent years, artistic dissemination, accompanied by a Rodarian spirit of play and storytelling, has become her hallmark, to which she adds in her latest picture books (La caccia al tesoro di Zazie with text by Elena Levi for Clichy-Sprea, October 2025), La mia strana vicina (with text by Gloria Danili for Edizioni Corsare, April 2026) and La pianta di Nadia (with text by Cristina Bellemo, forthcoming for Settenove in autumn 2026) a discourse on the principle of childhood self-determination through the imaginative and free dimension of fantasy.