Wednesday 27 May, 6.30pm
Una libraia a Londra (Cairo Edizioni) by Ornella Tarantola and Paola De Carolis
The authors in conversation with Sabrina Provenzani
Everything begins with a love story. Not the perfect kind, but the kind that survives contradictions. For more than 30 years, for Italians in London, the Italian Bookshop was a point of reference. At the centre of this world was Ornella Tarantola, a bookseller by vocation, capable of transforming a bookshop into a refuge made of conversation, wine, book launches and encounters that change lives. Together with her friend and journalist Paola De Carolis, Ornella now tells the story of a city that has meant so much to both of them, through a guide in which literature, impressions and hidden benches intertwine — a book that, ten years after the Brexit referendum, becomes a declaration of love to the city, to independent bookshops, and to the power of friendship.
In Italian with simultaneous translation in English
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ORNELLA TARANTOLA, born in Brescia, has lived in London for many years, where she worked for a long time at the only Italian bookshop in the United Kingdom, the Italian Bookshop. She now collaborates with the Italian Cultural Institute, where she organises literary events. She loves spending her money on flowers and books.
PAOLA DE CAROLIS writes for Corriere della Sera from London, where she has lived for many years. She was born in Verona and graduated in Classics at Oxford. She is married, has three children and a dog, with whom she is exploring all the city’s parks. In her free time, she volunteers with a charity for young musicians.
Sabrina Provenzani graduated in literature with a specialisation in contemporary poetry and worked in publishing before choosing journalism. She has lived in London for 15 years and writes for Il Fatto Quotidiano. She has a daughter and two cats, all of them teenagers. She believes in journalism, in books, and in friendships that endure despite borders.