On the occasion of the XXIII Week of the Italian Language in the World, under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic
Reading is a complex activity, requiring training, dedication and opportunities. The creation of readers requires physical spaces and a diverse range of possibilities, as well as interpersonal connections and symbolic spaces.
We are pleased to host a conversation on books, very special containers of words, images and ideas, with Susanna Mattiangeli, Children’s Laureate Italia and Joseph Coelho, Children’s Laureate UK. Moderated by Grazia Gotti (Accademia Drosselmeier – Alir (Associazione Librerie Indipendenti Ragazzi).
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Susanna Mattiangeli, born in Rome in 1971, writes long and short stories for various publishing houses and creates workshops in schools, libraries or bookshops. Among her books: Come funziona la maestra (Editrice Il Castoro); Gli altri (Topipittori); I numeri felici (Vànvere Edizioni); In spiaggia (Topipittori); the book series Matita HB (Editrice il Castoro); Aldo&Rosa (Mondadori). She has translated several books by the american author Beverly Cleary for the Il Barbagianni publishing house. Since 2019 he has collaborated with the magazine Internazionale Kids. During her career he has won numerous awards including the Premio Gigante delle Langhe, the Orbil Award, the Bitritto award for I numeri felici (Vànvere Edizioni 2017); The 2019 Rodari Award for Il posto segreto (Lupoguido 2019), translated in english as The hideout (Abrahm Books). In 2018 she won the 2018 italian Andersen Prize for best writer.
She was named Italian Children’s Laureate for the two-year period 2023/2024.
Joseph Coelho is a multi-award winning children’s author and playwright. He writes across several mediums for children including stage plays, picture books, non-fiction, middle grade and poetry. His debut poetry collection ‘Werewolf Club Rules’ illustrated by John O’leary was the winner of the 2015 CLPE CLIPPA Poetry Award. His Story told in poems – Overheard In A Tower Block was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal 2018 and the UKLA Award 2019 and short-listed for the CLPE Poetry Award 2018. His follow up verse novel, The Girl Who Became A Tree was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and received a special mention from the Bologna Ragazzi Award 2021. He is a two time recipient of the Indie Book Awards Best Picture Book Award with If All The World Were… (2019) and My Beautiful Voice (2022) both illustrated by Allison Colpoys. His stage play The Wishing Tree ran at the Little Angel Theatre in London. He wrote and presented ‘Teach Poetry’ – a 10-part BBC online series that aims to make the writing of poetry fun and accessible to all. Joseph is the Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2022 – 2024.
Grazia Gotti graduated in pedagogy, then worked as a children’s bookseller for decades. She currently works in education. In 2003 she founded the Accademia Drosselmeier, in Bologna: a library school for young adults wishing to become booksellers. Many of her former students now run bookshops in their hometowns, contributing to the Nation’s economic and social. Among her books, A scuola con i libri. Avventure di una maestra libraia (Rizzoli, 2013), Ventun donne all’assemblea (Bompiani, 2016), La biblioteca dei saperi (Lapis, 2020) and Come un giardino. Leggere la poesia ai bambini (Einaudi Ragazzi, 2021).