This is the tenth edition of LETTERATURE, Rome’s International Festival, the important international literary event that will be held from May 19th to June 23rd 2011. Conceived and directed by MARIA IDA GAETA, with events directed by FABRIZIO ARCURI, this year the Festival has invited 19 Italian and foreign authors, among the most important and interesting in the world, to address one specific subject following the festival’s traditional formula.

As always, the festival’s ten evening events will be held at the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum, an evocative location and one of great symbolic importance, where every year this event celebrates the magnitude, the vitality and the power of the written and spoken word.

The authors hosting the events of this edition, have been invited to debate and speak on the subject History/Stories. As always they will read original and previously unpublished texts for the audiences, each according to their personal point of view, exploring the links between literature and history and analysing possible relationships between literary and historical truths, between imagined stories and real history.

This tenth edition of Letterature is also an opportunity for remembering the history of our Festival, its great successes sealed by the positive outcome of the first nine editions, which hosted more than 300,000 spectators and the participation of 183 narrators and poets, 88 actors, 123 musicians and musical groups. This positive reception and success has been achieved above all thanks to the power and quality of a format, which, established at the very first edition, still today preserves its validity, continuing to be the model for many other events held in our country and in our cities.

Our tenth anniversary was celebrated with the decision to welcome as homage to the festival’s history, the return to Letterature of a number of foreign authors such as Don De Lillo and Antonio Skarmeta, as well as Italian writers such as Gianrico Carofiglio, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Carlo Lucarelli, Margaret Mazzantini and Sandro Veronesi.

Another reintroduced element is the presence of art. Every event will host images of the works of art of an Italian artist, freely chosen and associated by the Artistic Director to the original texts presented by the authors hosting the various evenings. Their names, together with those of the actors and musicians, will be announced at the second press conference.

Continuing a tradition started last year, on June 16th the festival will host the five finalists at the 2011 Strega Prize.

There will also be two special events. The first on June 9th, with the participation of the Russian Jewish author and American citizen, Gary Shteyngart, and the author Pavel Sanaev, who will pay homage to Russian culture (2011 has been proclaimed the year of Russian culture in Italy and of Italian culture in Russia). The second special event will take place on the festival’s last evening, on June 23rd, paying homage to Elsa Morante, the literary symbol of the Italian 20th Century, who, with all her work, represents at its best the subject of the relationship between history and literature, between real and imagined stories, between the truth of fact and the truth of literature.

All the authors hosted on the stage of the Basilica of Maxentius will appear in pairs, one Italian and one foreign. Unlike past editions, the pairings between Italian and foreign authors have been intentional and planned. Following the Festival’s classic format, this year too, the soul of these events will be the readings in the original language of original texts written by the authors. Often a number of well-known theatre and film actors and actresses will introduce the authors, reading passages from books already published in Italy. Readings will be introduced and at times accompanied and always complemented by live musical performances by outstanding musicians. Their names and those of artists and actors will be announced at the next press conference.

LETTERATURE Rome’s International Festival, created and curated by the Casa delle Letterature di Roma, is produced by the Councillorship for Cultural Policies and Rome’s Historical Centre.

Organization and production by Zètema Progetto Cultura.

The publishing houses of this year’s guest authors are Einaudi, Einaudi Stile Libero, Fandango, Feltrinelli, Garzanti, Guanda, Longanesi, Neri Pozza, Nottetempo, Mondadori and Rizzoli.

Artistic Director Maria Ida Gaeta