Giulia Caminito with the novel The water of the lake is never sweet (Bompiani) won the 59th edition of the Campiello Prize. The writer obtained 99 votes out of the 270 sent by the jury of 300 Anonymous Readers. In second place Paolo Malaguti with If the water laughs (Einaudi), 80 votes. At the third Paul Nori with It still bleeds. The Incredible Life of Fyodor M. Dostoevsky (Mondadori), 37 votes. On the fourth Carmen Pellegrino with The happiness of others (The ship of Theseus), 36 votes. In fifth place Andrea Bajanic with The Book of Houses (Feltrinelli), 18 votes.
"I dedicate this award in particular to women and to the possibility that women will be able to read and write anytime anywhere in the world.“, This is the hot statement of the winner of the Campiello Prize.
A Grand Gala of Literature in the spaces of the ancient Arsenale
The curtain falls on this 2021 edition of the Literary Award established by the Veneto Industrialists in 1962 and promoted and managed by the Il Campiello Foundation. Last night was not only an award ceremony but a Gran Galà delle Letteratura, broadcast live on Rai 5 and streamed from the Rai Play platform. The ceremony took place this year in the evocative setting of the ancient Arsenal of Venice, one of the iconic places of "doing". Here, in ancient times, one ship a day was built and the Arsenale was the beating heart of the city where Campiello was born. This is also a sign of the restart. The host Andrea Delogu, one of the best known on the Italian television and radio scene, at his second Campiello, did the honors. The musician (Lo Stato Sociale) and actor (Biraghi Award 2021) Lodo Guenzi duet with her with interventions and readings.
The memory of the recently deceased writer Daniele del Giudice
At the opening of the evening a heartfelt and very special thought for those who should have received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the writer Daniele Del Giudice who passed away on 2 September last. Romano, he had chosen Venice as his homeland of choice. “One of the most important contemporary writers”. This is how the president of this year's jury of writers recalled him, Walter Veltroni, who also had a deep friendship with Del Giudice. “This evening - he added - is not a memorial award but a recognition of what Daniele Del Giudice has done for literature. Right here, in Venice, the city of which Daniele felt he was the son ”. On the screen set up on the stage flowed the images and words of Del Giudice in an interview he had given to Rai.
The new Campiello Junior Award is coming because "reading a book helps you grow"
The other awards of the evening. The Campiello Youth Award 2021 was assigned to the XNUMX-year-old Alice Scalas White for his story The portrait of Paris, story of the meeting in Paris between a father and his young daughter from a short relationship many years earlier. "A story of extreme sweetness - this is the reason for the Award - which brings together ingenuity and intelligence and which is read to the end". Alice Scalas Bianco lives in Vigevano, in the province of Pavia, where she has just finished high school and is about to start university. He wrote his story, he explained, in two to three weeks, thanks to Covid and the quarantine.
Special mention of the Confindustria Youth Group for the best story on the theme of business culture to Lorenzo Molinetti of Chiavenna, in the province of Sondrio, for Fandango Cinema. Campiello Opera Prima Award had already been assigned, on the occasion of the Selection Ceremony of the Finalist Cinquina, to the writer from Adria, she lives in Rome, Daniela Gambaro for the opera Ten almost true stories (Nutriments). Next year there will be an extra prize, the Campiello Junior, an award for Italian works of fiction and poetry written for children between 10 and 14, under the banner of the belief that "reading a book helps to grow". During the ceremony, the one hundred years since the birth of Mario Rigoni Stern and Andrea Zanzotto were also remembered.
In 2022 the Campiello Prize will turn 60
In front of a parterre of 800 guests, the absolute protagonists of the evening were the five finalists, with whom Andrea Delogu chatted by tying a key word to each one. Original ploy to talk about their works, pending the counting of the cards of the 300 Anonymous Readers which, as usual, took place live and declared the winner. However, all five finalists were enthusiastic, with a hint of nostalgia and regret for the end of this adventure. For readers and the Foundation, see you next year with a very special edition. The Campiello Prize in 2022 will in fact celebrate its sixtieth birthday.
(ph credit: Campiello Award Foundation)
