"The Bridge" Book Award Third Edition 2017
Award Ceremonies
October 26, 2017 — 5:00 pmEmbassy of The United States - Rome |
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November 1, 2017 — 6:00 pmCIMA - Center of Italian Modern Art - New York |
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October 30, 2017 — 6:00 pmEmbassy of Italy – Washington, DC |
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The Award is meant to be a “bridge” that connects the Italian and the American cultures, in order to promote knowledge of the most recent literary trends in the two countries. The Award is conferred annually on one work of Fiction and one work of Non-Fiction, which have been recently published in Italy and the United States.
"The Bridge" Book Award was created, promoted and sponsored by Casa delle Letterature of the Rome Municipality, the American Initiative for Italian Culture (AIFIC), and the Embassy of the United States in Rome.
This year the Award is also sponsored by the Italian institutions Centro per il Libro e La Lettura (CEPELL - Institution of Ministero dei Beni Culturali e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo) and Federazione Unitaria Italiana Scrittori (FUIS).
The award is endorsed by the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC, and the American Academy in Rome, the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and other Institutions in both countries.
The Award
The Award consists of a sum to cover the translation costs into the opposite language, plus a monetary prize for the winner. Furthermore, every effort is made to find a publisher for the publication of the book in the country of non-origin.
The Structure
“The Bridge” has a mirror structure with two sections, one Italian and one American, similar and opposite to each other. The Italian books in competition (5 books of fiction and 5 books of nonfiction published in Italy) are judged by an American jury, while the American books in competition (5 books of fiction and 5 books of nonfiction published in the USA) are judged by an Italian jury. This structure ensures a better understanding of each other’s cultures, which is one of the objectives of this literary project.
The Winners
Italian Fiction
ANDREA INGLESE, Parigi è un desiderio - Ponte alle Grazie 2016 — Read Bio
Italian Non-fiction
ANTONELLA TARPINO, Paesaggio fragile – Einaudi 2016 — Read Bio
American Fiction
JENNIFER HAIGH, Heat & Light - HarperCollins 2016 — Read Bio
American Non-fiction
ANNA HARWELL CELENZA, Jazz Italian Style: From its Origins in New Orleans to Fascist Italy and Sinatra - Cambridge University Press 2017 — Read Bio
The Candidates
Italian Fiction
Andrea Bajani - Un bene al mondo - Einaudi - 2016 - pp. 144
Andrea Inglese - Parigi è un desiderio - Ponte alle Grazie - 2016 - pp. 316
Lorenzo Marone - Magari domani resto - Feltrinelli - Marzo 2016 - pp. 384
Laura Calosso - La stoffa delle donne - SEM - Marzo 2017 – pp. 223
Silvia Avallone - Da dove la vita è perfetta - Rizzoli - Marzo 2017 - pp. 384
Italian Non-Fiction
Stefano Bartezzaghi - La ludoteca di Babele - Utet - 2016 - pp. 210
Isabella Guanzini -Tenerezza, Ponte alle Grazie - Febbraio 2017 - pp. 192
Ivano Dionigi - Il presente non basta - Mondadori - 2016 - pp. 120
Antonella Tarpino - Paesaggio fragile - Einaudi - 2016 - pp. 200
Jean Talon - Incontri coi selvaggi - Quodlibet - 2016 - pp. 204
American Fiction
Maria Semple – Today Will be Different – Little, Brown & Company - 2016 - pp. 272
Anuk Arudpragasam – The Story of a Brief Marriage - Flatiron Books - 2016 - pp. 208
Fanny Howe – The Needle’s Eye – Graywolf Press - 2016 – pp. 160
Jennifer Haigh – Heat & Light by Jennifer Haigh - Ecco, HarperCollins - 2016 – pp. 192
Peter Ho Davies – The Fortunes – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt -2016 – pp. 288
American Non-Fiction
Webb, Heather – Dante’s Persons: An Ethics of the Transhuman – Oxford University Press - 2016 – pp. 220
Craig A. Monson – Habitual Offenders. A True Tale of Nuns, Prostitutes, and Murderers in Seventeenth-Century Italy – University of Chicago Press - 2016 – pp. 344
Susanna Berger – The Art of Philosophy – Princeton University Press - February 2017 – pp. 352
Anna Harwell Celenza – Jazz Italian Style: From its Origins in New Orleans to Fascist Italy and Sinatra – Cambridge University Press - March 2017 – pp. 264
Selena Daly – Italian Futurism and the First World War – Univ of Toronto Press - 2016 – pp. 265
The Jury