As of September 1, 2023 Federica Magro will assume the position of Editorial Director of Rizzoli, responding directly to Massimo Turchetta, General Manager and Publisher of the publishing house.

«I am grateful for the trust of those who appointed me to this position in the senior management of the Mondadori Group, and to Massimo Turchetta in particular. I consider myself fortunate because I know that I will be working with a team of professionals whom I hold in high esteem. Rizzoli is a great publishing house with a strong tradition of confronting the key issues of its time. We publish books in every sphere of publishing – from fiction to non-fiction, from classics to graphic novels – and have never been afraid to give space to the ideas and experiences of different worlds, faiths, and political orientations. We think we can gain new readers only if we maintain an open-minded approach to the complexities and contradictions of the present. This is my ambition: to keep Rizzoli at the centre of the debate, offering readers the tools and stories they need to interpret our times.»

Originally from Friuli, 54 years old, with two daughters, after graduating in Literature from the University of Milan and earning a doctorate from La Sapienza in Rome in Romance Philology, Federica Magro began working in the world of books, as a translator and reader for publishing houses, literary agencies, and newspapers, an activity with which she combined university research until 2001, when she joined the Mondadori Group as digital content manager for Mondadori Retail.

In 2006, she was called to work at the Oscars.

She joined the RCS Group in 2012 as editorial manager of BUR, where she combined management of a catalogue of over 4000 titles with creation of new original paperback series and scouting of non-fiction authors (including Daniele Novara and Stefania Andreoli, among others).

In 2016, she added to her frontlist responsibilities with BUR: historical novels for Fabbri and YA fiction for Rizzoli, the latter a veritable hotbed of new and established authors (such as Christopher Paolini, John Green, and Stephanie Garber, recently joined by British writer Holly Jackson, with her “Good Girls” trilogy on the charts for over a year).

Visualizza questo post su Instagram

Un post condiviso da Gruppo Mondadori (@gruppomondadori)

This June, our brands take part in the festivities of Pride month, a time of the year dedicated to celebrating the diversity, inclusion and rights of the LGBTQIA+ communities.

Pride month is an occasion to foster values such as respect, equality and tolerance towards each individual, regardless of their gender, identity or sexual preferences.

For pride month, we recommend a series of publications on LGBTQIA+ topics published by our publishing houses. We believe in the power of books as a tool used to convey inclusiveness through stories speaking of all shades of love.

Mondadori and Star Comics created a special Pride month page on their respective websites to demonstrate their commitment towards inclusion and diversity. In fact, the same will contain various book suggestions for its readers. And there’s something for everyone: from comics to novels or autobiographies to memoirs.

Thanks to this initiative, people can access a vast range of editorial offers depicting heartfelt and open-minded stories full of brave characters.

Our publishing houses also suggest other reading suggestions:

The Wom also created a special section on its website. The Wom in fact addresses its community through such area by sharing content developed to give space to the LGBTQIA+ communities and clarify the most controversial issues to spread awareness and inclusion.

 

Visualizza questo post su Instagram

 

Un post condiviso da The Wom (@thewom)

Podcast d’altro genere is an audio project developed by our Rizzoli publishing house to encourage people to think about the roles of characters in well-known fairy tales.

The podcast is based on the book Gender Swapped Fairy Tales by Karrie Fransman and Jonathan Plackett, where the characters in traditional stories swap gender. This is a world where evil stepfathers cast spells on newborn princes, the bad wolf is a she-wolf and princesses overcome one challenge after another to go and rescue sleeping princes.

These may appear to be minor, inconsequential changes, but in fact they are significant, and provided the idea for Podcast d’altro genere.

In a four-part series examining oral tradition, re-workings and famous adaptations, Matteo Bordone and Carlo G. Gabardini – with contributions from Giulia Blasi, Gabriella Crafa, Vera Gheno, Elena Giorgi, Eva Massari and Lisa Dalla Via – examine the significance of gender roles in fairy tales and their importance in children’s development as future citizens. How does a story change and what changes in us when a gender-swapping mechanism of the sort used by Fransman and Plackett is applied?

Podcast d’altro genere is a literary exercise giving everyone the opportunity to talk about gender stereotypes and related issues. A central question in people’s lives today, examined from an unusual point of view.

The podcast can be downloaded free from all music streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple podcast, Spreaker, Deezer and Amazon Music.

5 July 2021

Even today 120 million children around the world do not receive a basic education, and more than half of them are girls. Without the chance to study it is impossible to imagine a future, without adequate quality education there are no opportunities to build a better and more secure life.

The right to an education is even more at risk in countries like Ethiopia, where almost 30 million people live below the poverty line and 30.4% of children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition. Too many boys and girls (70%) are obliged to leave education after primary school in order to help their families by working in the fields and because of a lack of the right kind of support.

This is why, for Christmas, ActionAid together with Mondadori, Einaudi, Rizzoli, Piemme, Sperling&Kupfer, Mondadori Electa and Fabbri Editori have come together to face an important challenge: to guarantee the right to education for 1,800 boys and girls in the Raya Azebo of Ethiopia, one of the places in the world where the provision of primary education is most urgent, and an area that is frequently without access to drinking water and adequate sanitation.

“Going to school in Ethiopia and being able to complete studies with quality education is a right that is denied to too many children especially girls. To able to work alongside a partner like Mondadori is to receive the kind of fundamental support that will make it possible to realise the dreams of 1,800 children who have neither classrooms, nor books or materials. Thanks to the contribution of the publishing houses of the Group we will be able to build two new schools, provide electricity, drinking water and sanitation, support teacher training and build awareness in the local community of the importance of educating girls, in one of the poorest regions of the country,” declared Marco De Ponte, Secretary General of ActionAid.

The importance of an education worthy of the name – that is equal, inclusive and accessible to everyone – is an absolute priority for the Mondadori Group: indeed, it is part of a profound sense among the people who work in the company that it is a natural and fundamental element of our traditions and history as a company” declared Enrico Selva Coddè, Chief Executive of the Trade Area of Mondadori Books. “This initiative allows our publishing houses to go further and engage in a concrete and inclusive solidarity project that will benefit one of the areas of the world in which the need is most urgent. Being able to work alongside a partner like ActionAid is a guarantee for us of the seriousness of our joint commitment” concluded Enrico Selva Coddè.

The project

Most of the schools in the Raya Azebo district have wooden frames and mud walls. And due to the lack of separate toilet facilities for boys and girls, it is impossible for girls to go to school during their menstrual cycle. Such frequent absence from lessons consequently leads to poor results and even abandoning school altogether.

With the “Insieme per l’istruzione” (Together for Education) project, ActionAid and the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group will create a safe school environment for 1,800 children, half of them girls, in the primary schools of the Barie Woyane and Hawulti communities. During 2020 two school buildings, each with four classrooms, a library and separate toilet facilities for girls, will be completed. Also teaching materials and classroom furniture will be provided, along with support for girls and initiatives to improve school governance, with the increased involvement of the local communities.

The progress of the project in Ethiopia can be followed on the web site: insiemeperlistruzione.it.

With this initiative, ActionAid and the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group are committed to the shared support of the fourth of the Sustainable Objectives set by the United Nations for 2030.

ActionAid for schools

Over the last year we have ensured and improved access to free, safe and quality education for boys and girls in around 5,000 schools in 25 countries. We have also involved over 400,000 parents, teachers and students in activities aimed at preventing and combatting the early abandonment of school.

The Mondadori Group for education

We are a publishing house with over 100 years of history. Thanks to our strong links with authors and readers we are acutely aware of our responsibilities, also to civil society. There is no doubt that the right to quality education and information is an essential prerequisite for the development and growth of a country. Consequently, the active promotion, in Italy and around the world, of a culture that is accessible to all, is a central part of our mission and one of the principles of the Group’s sustainability policy.

What ActionAid does

ActionAid is an independent international organisation operating in Italy and in 44 other countries. It collaborates with more than 10,000 partners, alliances, NGOs and social movements to combat poverty and social injustice. For over 40 years ActionAid has been working alongside the poorest and most marginalised people and communities, supporting them in the knowledge that it is only through collective efforts in support of solidarity and justice that real social change can be generated. A fair and equal world for all: this is the vision that inspires ActionAid and provides its strength. In order to transform this vision of the world into concrete reality, ActionAid has adopted a specific mission for the next 10 years: to work for the promotion and adoption of democratic participation and to involve people and communities in the protection of their rights, and to collaborate, at a local, national and international level, for the realisation of change and the spread of social equality, improving the quality of democracy and consequently supporting those who live in situations of poverty and marginalisation.

From this month all new eBooks from the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group– Mondadori, Rizzoli, Einaudi, Piemme, Sperling & Kupfer e Mondadori Electa – will be published in the new ePub3 format.

The Mondadori Group is the first Italian publisher to adopt the most recent international standard for all new digital publications, confirming its commitment to the development of digital publishing and the innovations demanded by the market.

The updating project was completed after a detailed analysis of the new format aimed at further improving the reading experience to make it more inclusive. In fact, the technical specifications of ePub3 make it possible to produce eBook with improved accessibility and graphics.

The new format facilitates the publication of digital text with a higher level of accessibility thanks to more precise metadata, content marking and image description, giving the visually impaired a much wider range of books that can be used with adaptive technologies, such as special keyboards and voice-overs.

This is a continuation of the Mondadori Group’s commitment to extend access to reading for people with sight impairments, to which the company has always paid special attention, also through collaboration with institutions such as the Fondazione LIA and the Fondazione Paideia on ambitious inclusion projects, such as the catalogue of accessible Italian books (https://catalogo.fondazionelia.org) and the digital books in AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication ) project ILIBRIPERTUTTI (https://www.ilibripertutti.it).

Entirely retro-compatible with all reading devices and apps, the ePub3 format will also make it possible to more easily produce books with complex graphics and augmented features, such as multi-media, interactivity and animations.

The Mondadori Group is the market leader in trade books with a total market share of 25.7%. Since 2010 Group has published the majority of its editorial products also as eBooks, with a catalogue of around 20,000 titles.

Marta Treves from today will take over editorial responsibility for miscellaneous books and Rizzoli Lizard at the Rizzoli publishing house, reporting to the director Massimo Turchetta.

Born in Milan in 1976, after a Master’s degree in Scientific Communication and a traineeship in journalism, she joined Mondadori in 2005 as copy editor for foreign fiction and miscellaneous books. She went on to become editor of Mondadori’s children’s books and then also miscellaneous books, and after a brief spell with Rizzoli as editor of foreign fiction, she returned to Mondadori, where, since 2015 she has been editorial director of foreign fiction and young adult fiction.

Camilla Boneschi, Francesco Bozzi, Susanna Ciucci, Valerio Fidenzi, Giulia Masci Ametta, Linda Poncetta, Luca Scolari and Anna Spinelli: these are the young talents selected by the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group as part of the Millennial Editors project.

Launched in February, the project offered a unique opportunity to 8 recent graduates  under-30 in order to gain work experience in the publishing world, after being chosen on the basis of an outstanding curriculum and a deep passion for books and reading.

All of the aspiring editor were subjected to a rigorous recruitment process and selected from over 4,200 applications, received by the Mondadori Group during the month the project was launched with an announcement on the Monster Italia web site.

Following an initial selection phase based on qualifications and experience, 81 candidates were given the possibility to participate in an Edithon: a full day at the Palazzo Mondadori, in which the candidates met the leading figures from each of the Group’s publishing houses and could demonstrate their skills through individual and group tests.

8 Millennial Editors stood out among them and, starting from this month, will start a two-year apprenticeship at Mondadori, Einaudi, Rizzoli, BUR, Sperling & Kupfer, Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education.

This will give them the chance to make their dream come true and to learn how to become an editor, by interacting and cooperating with all of the colleagues and other protagonists in the book production chain, starting from the authors.

The #MillennialEditors project has also offered an opportunity to discuss and share with young people on social media some of the fundamental aspects of what it means to be a professional editor: videos, photos, “stories” and special content that have recorded a total of over 280,000 views on the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles of the Mondadori Group.

The publishing houses of the Mondadori Group are launching the Millennial Editor project for talented under 30s who dream of becoming  book editors.
An innovative and unprecedented programme, aimed at graduates in the humanities and economics, through which the Mondadori Group offers millennials with a consuming passion for books and reading a unique opportunity to enter the publishing world.

Einaudi, Electa, Mondadori, Piemme, Rizzoli, Sperling & Kupfer, Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education, through a selection process in various stages, will identify eight young talents who will be guaranteed a period of two years of work and training as an editor with an apprenticeship contract.

The candidates selected will pursue a path during which they will be required to measure themselves against the activities of the various publishing areas and participate in training sessions with highly experienced professionals of the Group’s various publishing houses.
An all-round opportunity to learn the profession of editor, not only the specific aspects of publishing, but also the institutional, technical and managerial sides, interacting and collaborating with all of the protagonists involved in the book chain, starting from authors and senior editors. Each participant will develop the key skills necessary to face the challenges of a continuously evolving market.

The Millennial Editor project is developed in collaboration with Monster Italia, a highly specialised company in personnel research, and the technical partner in the recruitment phase.
You can submit your application from today, to this link.
After an initial selection based on qualifications and experience, in the second half of March suitable candidates will take part in an Edithon, a one-day event at Palazzo Mondadori during which they will meet the leading figures involved in the  project and, after being divided into work groups, will have the opportunity to put themselves to the test.
By the end of April, the eight young talents selected will be allocated, according to their characteristics and inclinations, to one of the areas, i.e. non-fiction, miscellaneous, fiction or educational of the publishing houses involved: Einaudi, Electa, Mondadori, Piemme, Rizzoli, Sperling & Kupfer, Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education.

On February 13, Rizzoli publishes “Fire and Fury”, the publishing phenomenon of this beginning of the year.

The book, which was released in the USA on January 5 and initially sold in 150,000 copies, has already reached 1.1 million paper copies sold out – with readers queuing up at night in front of bookshops as in Harry Potter’s day – as well as hundreds of thousands of copies in ebooks and the audio version.

In England, in just a few days and even before its arrival in the bookshop on January 10, the print run reached 400,000 copies and there are already more than 20 countries that have acquired publishing rights. In France the volume, as announced today by Le Figaro, will be released on February 22nd for Laffont.

Lies? It’s all true,”says Wolff, who initially imagined the book as an account of the first 100 days at the White House to be published one year after the beginning of Trump’s presidency and then, unexpectedly, had access to the President and most senior members of his staff, including Steve Bannon, for a total of 18 months (the first interview took place in May 2016), becoming a” constant intruder “.

Michael Wolff, 64, an American author, essayist, and journalist, and a regular columnist and contributor to USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, and the UK edition of GQ, has already stirred up a sensation with a biography on Rupert Murdoch (2007, The Man Who Owns the News).

Our publishing houses are at the 69th Frankfurt Book Fair , scheduled from 11 to 15 October.

This is the most important European event and among the most prestigious in the world.

Mondadori, Rizzoli, Einaudi, Sperling & Kupfer and Piemme are in Hall 5.0, Stand C56.