books

Mondadori releases the Italian version of Salman Rushdie’s latest novel

After the violent attack suffered in New York last August, Salman Rushdie makes a come back with a powerful story structured like the translation of an ancient epic, following the great Indian narrative poems, such as the Ramayana.

Salman Rushdie, one of the most important advocates of contemporary international culture, returns to bookstores with a new novel published by Mondadori: Victory City. The story speaks of the creation and development of Bisnaga (literally “Victory City” in 14th century India) by the will of the Goddess Pampa Kampana, who revealed herself to a young orphan bearing her name; but, above all, the story emphasises the most important goal: that of ensuring equal power to women in a patriarchal world.

Synopsis

In 14th century India, following a bloody battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms, a nine-year-old girl makes a divine encounter bound to change the course of history.

The very young Pampa Kampana, overwhelmed with pain since her mother’s death, becomes a medium for her homonymous Goddess, who not only begins speaking through her, but who also grants her huge powers, thus revealing her role will be determinant for the birth of a great city called Bisnaga (literally “Victory City”).

Over the following 250 years, Pampa Kampana’s life is deeply intertwined with that of Bisnaga: from its creation, which was made possible thanks to a bag of magical seeds, to its tragic destruction, which was caused by the arrogance of the powerful. The story, whispered through the words our heroine, gradually gives life to Bisnaga and its citizens in the attempt to fulfil the task entrusted to her by the Goddess: ensuring equal power to women in a patriarchal world. However, all stories have a way of becoming independent from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. Over the years, following a succession of rulers, battles won and others lost, the fabric of Bisnaga continues to assume an increasingly more complex pattern, at the centre of which our heroine endures. Brilliantly structured like the translation of an ancient epic, Victory City is a saga of love, adventure, myth and a confirmation of the power of storytelling.

The author

Salman Rushdie, born in Mumbai, in 1945, moved to London at the age of fourteen and studied at King’s College, in Cambridge. Not only has he written novels such as Shame, Midnight’s Children, The Moor’s Last Sigh, Shalimar The Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, Quichotte, but also news stories and many essays. Following the 1988 publication of his novel, The Satanic Verses, he became subject of various serious threats and was forced to lead a semi-clandestine life under police protection. On August 12th 2022, he was severely stabbed at a literary event near New York. He is unanimously considered one of the most important advocates of contemporary international culture.

Mondadori has published the Italian version of “Spare,” Prince Harry’s autobiography

It is being released today, January 10, for Penguin Random House and Mondadori, in Italy. Simultaneous worldwide publication in 16 languages.

Spare, the autobiography of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, published by Penguin Random House and for Mondadori, in Italy, is being released worldwide today, January 10, 2023.

 From the very first pages, Spare takes readers back to one of the most poignant images of the twentieth century: two little boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin under the entire world’s pained and horrified eyes. As the funeral of Diana was being celebrated, billions of people wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry were thinking or feeling, but also how their lives would move forward from there.

Now, at last, Harry tells his story.

“The Heir and Backup: such definition was neither a judgement nor ambiguous. I was the shadow, the second in line, the plan B… I was summoned as a backup, a distraction, a diversion and, whenever necessary, a spare part. … All of this had been made clear to me since I can remember and reaffirmed periodically ever since.”

Before losing his mother, the then 12-year old Prince Harry was regarded as the cheerful and carefree Backup of the more serious Heir to the throne. However, that time of mourning changed everything. Harry began having issues at school and found himself struggling against his own anger and solitude. Moreover, since he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he had a hard time accepting life under the spotlight.

At twenty, he joined the British Army. Discipline gave him stability, and two missions turned him into a hero at home. However, he soon found himself more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and crippling panic attacks. But most of all, he was unable to find true love.

Then, he met Meghan. The world was captivated by that novel-like story and rejoiced in their fairy tale wedding. Yet, Harry and Meghan were pursued by the press since the very beginning, struck with numerous insults, racist comments and lies. Seeing his wife suffer, and fearing for their safety and sanity, Harry found himself forced to flee the country in an attempt to prevent history from tragically repeating itself. Few have dared to leave the royal family over the centuries. His mother had been the last to do so…

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his story, an account of his journey reported with unquestionable truth. Spare is an exceptional book full of particulars, revelations and intimate details emphasised by the awareness – conquered at a great price – that love always prevails over pain.

Prince Harry intends to support a certain number of British charities with the profits of Spare. The Duke of Sussex has donated 1,500,000 dollars to Sentebale, an organisation he set up with Prince Seeiso in memory of their mothers and which supports the vulnerable children and youngsters suffering from HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana. The prince will also donate 300,000 pounds to WellChild, a no-profit organisation he has supported for fifteen years as a royal and which provides home care to children and youngsters with complex health needs whenever possible.

The English versions of Spare will be published in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House UK, and by Random House Canada in Canada. The book will also be translated and published in 15 other languages: Spanish, Plaza & Janés/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial; German, Penguin Verlag/Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe GmbH; Brazilian Portuguese, Objetiva/Grupo Companhia das Letras; European Portuguese, Objectiva/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial; simplified Chinese, Penguin Random House China; Danish, Politikens Forlag; Dutch, Hollands Diep, a division of Overamstel; Finnish, Otava Publishing Company Ltd.; French, Éditions Fayard; Greek, Pedio Books; Hungarian, Corvina Books; Italian, Mondadori; Polish, Wydawnictwo Marginesy; Romanian, Nemira Publishing House; Swedish, Albert Bonniers Förlag.

 # # #

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a husband, father, human rights activist, military veteran, mental health advocate and environmentalist. He lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his family and three dogs.

Prince Harry

Spare

Mondadori.

January 10, 2023

Hardcover, 540 pages, € 25,00

You can find it here.

Cover credits

Cover design: Christopher Brand

Cover photo: Ramona Rosales

50th anniversary of the death of Arnoldo Mondadori

Fondazione Mondadori presents the digital exhibition Il cam(m)ino dell’editore. Storie di Arnoldo Mondadori a Meina, together with a host of other initiatives in memory of the founder of our publishing house.

Arnoldo Mondadori nella sua villa a Meina

Arnoldo Mondadori often entertained writers and publishers in his family home in Meina, and would ask them to write a mot juste or sign their name on the wall above the fireplace.

Fondazione Mondadori is marking the fiftieth anniversary of his death with a digital exhibition that takes those signatures as a starting point to look back at Arnoldo’s relations with some of the leading figures from the 20th-century world of literature and publishing, from Eugenio Montale to Alba de Céspedes, Mario Soldati to Lavinia Mazzucchetti as well as Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Mann and Walt Disney. Interviews, archive documents and videoclips portray a home that was a place to work, to welcome friends and family, as well as a setting for encounters that hold a place in the history of Italian culture and publishing in the 20th century.

The exhibition is organised in three sections. The first, Villa Mondadori in Meina, looks at the history of the lakeside house, from its purchase in the 1920s as a summer residence open to friends and guests, to its use as a refuge and branch of the publishing house during the Second World War.

The second and third sections of the exhibition, Authors and The Publishing World, examine Arnoldo Mondadori’s relationships with some of the authors of the signatures above the fireplace: Enzo Biagi, Valentino Bompiani, Dino Buzzati, Piero Chiara, Alba de Céspedes, Lavinia Mazzucchetti, Domenico Porzio, Vasco Pratolini, Colette Rosselli, Renzo Segala, Mario Soldati.

The exhibition is online on the Fondazione Mondadori website from Friday 4 June.

50 years since the death of Arnoldo Mondadori: program

Il cam(m)ino dell’editore. Storie di Arnoldo Mondadori a Meina opens a program of initiatives dedicated to the publisher on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his death, on 8 June 2021, organised in collaboration with other entities

They include:

  1. A commemorative postage stamp printed by Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato and issued by the Italian Post Office on Tuesday 8 June.
  2. Two books examining the figure of Arnoldo Mondadori, published by Fondazione Mondadori for the «Biblioteca» series. The first is entitled Lettere all’editore. Aleramo, de Céspedes e Manzini autrici Mondadori, edited by Sabina Ciminari. The second, Dear Mr. Mondadori. I romanzi americani nel catalogo Mondadori 1930-1960, is edited by Cinzia Scarpino and traces the history of the American novels in the Mondadori catalogue between the 1930s and the end of the 1960s.
  3. A reprint of the biography Arnoldo Mondadori by Enrico Decleva for the Mondadori series «Oscar Storia»: in his examination of the life of the distinguished publisher and entrepreneur, for which he was awarded the Acqui-Storia prize, Decleva describes a fundamental period in arts and culture, the creation of a mass market for books and journals in a century of important social change. The book will be available from 8 June.
  4. A celebratory book, produced as a collaboration between the Mondadori publishing house and Fondazione Mondadori. The book will use a collection of dedications by the authors to Arnoldo Mondadori as the springboard to recount key moments and personalities in the history of the publishing house. The selection will be made by Alberto Cadioli, who will edit the book and write the introduction. The publication date will coincide with the conference to be held in the autumn.
  5. A conference on themes and trends in contemporary publishing, starting from the figure and entrepreneurial story of Arnoldo Mondadori. The conference, organised in collaboration with Mondadori, will be held on 7 October, the moderator will be Mario Calabresi.
  6. A docu-drama produced by Anele di Gloria Giorgianni and directed by Francesco Micciché, alternating archive material and personal accounts on the life of Arnoldo Mondadori.
  7. The creation by the Mondadori publishing house of a scholarship for the next edition of the Master in publishing at Milan University, in collaboration with AIE and Fondazione Arnoldo e Alberto Mondadori. The scholarship will be dedicated to the memory of publisher Stefano Magagnoli, who died recently and was for many years one of the leading names in Italian book publishing.
Arnoldo Mondadori con alcuni autori a Verona

Mondadori Store: bookshops open across Italy with an extensive offer of books, entertainment, new online services and events

The Christmas campaign begins: “Give the gift of a story, and move someone you love”

Books offer experience, enjoyment, reflection: essential goods that the Mondadori Store bookshops continue to provide to people around the country at more than 550 shops open across the entire county, while also ensuring maximum protection of the heath of customers and staff.

In this period, Italy’s most extensive bookshop network is inviting readers to spend some free time in a bookshop to bring forward the tradition moment of buy books as Christmas gifts with a campaign entitled, “Regala una storia, emoziona chi ami” (“Give the gift of a story, and move someone you love”). An initiative which, in line with the appeal made by AIE – Associazione Italiana Editori (the Italian Publishers’ Association) and ALI – Associazione Librai Italiani (the Italian Association of Booksellers), underlines the importance of avoiding queues and crowds in store and reduce waiting times in the lead up to Christmas, and promoting the book as the perfect Christmas gift.

The entire Mondadoristore.it offer, with over 1 million titles in the catalogue, as well as music, films, toys, stationery and eReaders, is always available through free multichannel services, along with home delivery: Pick Up Point, to comfortably collect in store products bought online; Prenota e ritira, with which you can order online and collect and pay in the store or at one of the 11,00 post offices around the country, and Invia a casa, to have a product ordered in store deliver straight to you home.  Customers can also take advantage of the new Satispay service, which is already active at more than 150 Mondadori Stores, to safely and securely pay using just your smartphone.

Plus, for the sixth year in a row, Cesvi volonteers will be at participating Mondadori Stores in all of the main Italian cities and towns to gift-wrap customers’ purchases. A successful partnership in support of the Cesvi initiative for the prevention and fight against the maltreatment of children in the cities of Bergamo, Bari and Naples. With a small donation, customers can make a contribution to this important project.

Mondadori Store digital events will also continue with leading players from the world of arts and entertainment who will meet the public in exclusive online events: The Zen Circus on 20 November; Fabrizio Moro in 25 November; and Simon & The Stars on 3 December.

The Mondadori Store Christmas communication campaign, developed by the Canali&C. agency, will be on air on radio, in store, with posters and videowall at points of sale, and online with newsletters, on the  Mondadoristore.it website and the networks social media profiles.

 

Mondadori Group: new organisation for Trade Books

Growth and development are the priorities for the publishing houses:
changes aimed at facing the new publishing scenario

The Mondadori Group has redesigned its Trade Books Area under the leadership of the chief executive of Mondadori Libri S.p.A. Enrico Selva Coddè, with the aim of pursuing growth and development opportunities for its publishing houses.

“We have defined a new organisational model that will enable us to respond more effectively to the central challenges in trade publishing, a sector in increasingly rapid evolution, also at the international level,” declared Enrico Selva Coddè. “A necessary change to look to the future of the country’s leading cultural industry with the innovative approach that has always characterised our publishing houses,” Selva Coddè concluded.

Consequently, two new crossover departments have been created that will report directly to Enrico Selva Coddè.

The first, the department of General Operations, will be headed up by Filippo Guglielmone, with the aim of orienting the business at the highest possible level of cost efficiency and service possible; operations and sales will be integrated in a single process to drive value generation and make it possible to optimise time-to-market, increase customer satisfaction and facilitate the growth of the publishing houses.

The second, the department for Strategic Marketing, Rights and Acquisitions, to be led by Lorenzo Garavaldi, aims to reinforce the company’s role in the publishing market through analysis and the definition of market strategy, the coordination of acquisition activities and the identification of development priorities.

Reporting to Enrico Selva Coddè, the publishing houses will also absorb product marketing activities giving them all control over communication, in line with a scenario in which the enhancement of authors’ work is part of a single publishing effort that goes from the title to readers’ comments.

The publishing houses are led by Francesco Anzelmo, General Manager of Mondadori; Ernesto Franco, General Manager and Editorial Director of Einaudi; Massimo Turchetta, General Manager of Rizzoli Trade and Publishing & Rights Development; Stefano Peccatori, General Manager of Sperling & Kupfer, Piemme and Mondadori Electa, and Lorenzo Garavaldi, General Manager of BU Ragazzi.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2019

This year again we will attend the Frankfurt Book Fair, at its 71st edition from 16 to 20 October with our publishing houses and imprints.

It is the most prestigious European event in the field of book publishing.

Mondadori, Rizzoli, Einaudi, Sperling&Kupfer, Mondadori Electa and Piemme will be in Hall 5.0, stand C56.

Oxford University Press and Rizzoli Education: new exclusive distribution agreement

The contract celebrates forty years of cooperation in Italy

More than tow million Italian children have taken their first steps in English with the Oxford books TreeTops, before going on in secondary school with other incredibly successful titles, including High Five and Horizons, also used by two million students

Oxford University Press and Rizzoli Education have signed a new exclusive agreement for the distribution in Italy of books for the teaching of English published by the historic British publisher.

The new five-year contract will allow the two players in the educational publishing sector to renew a strong partnership that has been consolidated over many years.

Together, Oxford University Press and Rizzoli Education have been the protagonists of many successes, thanks to which they continue to look to the future and its challenges with clear objectives, great vitality and a reinforced spirit of collaboration.

Through this partnership Oxford University Press celebrates more than forty years of activity in Italy. The first exclusive distribution agreement dates from 1978 with La Nuova Italia Editrice, the historic publishing house, that today is a Rizzoli Education brand.

Since then Oxford University Press has reached the top of the Italian market, where it is the leader in both primary and secondary schools, with high quality books that are adopted by thousands of English teachers.

A key factor in this success has been the commitment to producing books specifically developed for Italian schools and brought to market thanks to the partnership with Rizzoli Education.

This close partnership has given to schools a number of successful titles. in addition to TreeTops, High Five and Horizons, best sellers with sales of well over two million copies, as well as the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (published in 1948 and now in its ninth edition) used by hundreds of millions of students around the world, and Headway, the international course, also distributed in Italy by Rizzoli Education, which, since its publication in 1986, has been used by millions of students around the world to study English.

 

Oxford University Press is a department of the prestigious University of Oxford. For more than 500 years it has shared innovative ideas and thought through the publication of books that promote the university’s mission to pursue excellence in knowledge, research and education.  

Rizzoli Education operates in the educational publishing sector at all levels, from primary to secondary schools, with printed and digital products and technology and services for both teachers and students.

Giovanni Francesio appointed as Mondadori’s new head of Italian Fiction

Giovanni Francesio will today take over editorial responsibility for Italian Fiction at the Mondadori publishing house, reporting directly to the editorial director Francesco Anzelmo.

In addition to Italian fiction, the other areas that report to Anzelmo are Foreign Fiction and Young Adults, Non Fiction, Miscellaneous, Paperbacks and Classics.

Born in Mantua in 1970, Giovanni Francesio graduated from the University of Bologna with a dissertation on Leopardi and Tasso.
He began his publishing career at Piemme in 2004 as editorial director, subsequently covering other roles in the company, including general manager.
From 2012 to 2014 he was editorial director of Piemme and Sperling & Kupfer, while, from 2015 to 2018 Francesio has been editorial director of Frassinelli, a position that will be given ad interim to Stefano Peccatori, general manager of Sperling & Kupfer, Piemme and Mondadori Electa.

Mondadori Store launches “C’è vita, in un libro. La tua”, a new campaign for the promotion of books an reading

A project that is the fruit of collaboration with the artist Mr. SaveTheWall and the creative contribution of the Action & Branding agency

C’è vita, in un libro. La tua” (There’s life in a book, yours) is the claim of a new book promotion campaign by Mondadori Store, the Mondadori Group’s chain of bookshops, and the fruit of an idea by the artist Mr. SaveTheWall with the creative contribution from the Action & Branding agency.

The initiative, which launches on 15 November, aims to enhance the reading experience through the voices and faces of readers: in other words real people who have taken part in an experimental artistic operation called Bookshot and who are the protagonists of the campaign by offering an unmediated account of their feelings and bring books to life in their own words.

“The result of this creative project is a form of communication that comes from and goes to the heart, because sharing a book is to share a part of your life,” declared Francesco Rigantimarketing director of Mondadori Retail. “Mondadori Store is making itself a spokesman and promoter of a message of social interest: an invitation to read, because we believe that more readers can lead to a more solid society that is focused on development and change.”

During two shooting sessions at the Mondadori Megastore in Via Marghera in Milan, Mr. SaveTheWall, aka Pierpaolo Perretta, the artist known for his situationist work that interprets issues and habits of contemporary society, met one hundred people. Each participant was asked to bring their favourite book with them and what emerged were  profound stories and feelings provoked by reading. Each of which was captured on video and fixed in a photographic portrait.

“An adage that I have made my own is ‘art is in the eye of the beholder’. And in Bookshot, as a work of art, I was able to note that the participants made the books the had read their own and created a  unique reading experience. The authenticity of the feelings of the participants is in itself something quite extraordinary especially if we consider that from a dialogue based on a single object – their favourite book – they were able to draw out a more profound and real synthesis of their life. This is why, for me, Bookshot is such an authentic, powerful and engaging project,” commented the artist Mr. SaveTheWall.

So readers are the exceptional witnesses to an initiative that will take place in the coming months on the web on a site dedicated to the project www.condividiunlibro.it, which will host he videos and photos produced by the artist. Users will be invited to take part by posting on Facebook or Instagram Stories their favourite book and a phrase the briefly explains why it is their favourite and using the hashtag #condividiunlibro. Alls of this content will be added to the platform, multiplying the sharing of experiences and will be rewarded by Mr. SaveTheWall who will choose the best shots.

“This is an ambitious and extremely valuable project that we are very proud of. A sort of perfect alchemy has been created among the people involved and this has enabled the idea to gather enthusiasm day by day and reach out to all of the touchpoints. The genesis itself of the creative idea was the result of collective intelligence working in harmony, a relationship model that can be taken as an example and that will increasingly find a place in the future.” concluded Alessandro Pedrazzini, CEO of Action & Branding.

The campaign will also benefit form articulated planning across different media and managed by MediaClub: press, with four subjects, on leading weekly and monthly titles and the Mondadori Store Christmas Gift Guide; the web and the social networks Facebook, Instagram and Youtube with di 30’’ and 60’’ videos; leading influencer networks; outdoor metropolitan digital posts, at metro, bus and train stations; and all of the shops on the Mondadori Store network and on Mondadoristore.it.

 

Dio è giovane: a new book by Pope Francis

Dio è giovane (God is Young) is the title of the new book-long interview with Pope Francis that will be published with a big international launch on 20 March 2018. Two years after Il nome di Dio è Misericordia (The Name of God is Mercy), which was published in over 100 countries, an important new publishing project characterises the papacy of Pope Francis: the Holy Father has dedicated 2018 to the young generations, ahead of the Youth Synod to be held at the Vatican in October. Dio è giovane will be published around the world on the occasion of the World Youth Day which, falling on Palm Sunday, will be celebrated in the Vatican and in dioceses in the five continents.
The Pope wanted to handwrite the title of the book on the covers of the six main languages.
In Italy it will be published by Piemme, a publishing house of the Mondadori Group, which manages the worldwide rights.
The book can already be pre-ordered from online stores.

Pope Francis
Dio è giovane (God is Young)
A conversation with Thomas Leoncini

In a book form interview, Pope Francis addresses young people all over the world, both inside and outside the Church, in a courageous, intimate, memorable dialogue. A message of liberation that crosses the present and outlines the future, building a bridge between generations for a profound renewal of our societies. In conversation with Thomas Leoncini, Pope Francis, with great force and passion, analyses the great issues of modernity, taking the new generations, the great overlooked of our restless age, away from the margins to which they have been relegated and showing that they are, in fact, the protagonists of our common story. The book anticipates and prepares the great Youth Synod that will be celebrated in the Vatican in October 2018.

The following publishers are involved in the launch of the book in Europe, the United States and Latin America:

Italy                                       Piemme
USA & Canada                      Random House
France                                   Robert Laffont
Germany                               Herder
Spain & South America     Editorial Planeta
Portugal                                Planeta Manuscrito
Brazil                                     Editora Planeta
Poland                                   Znak
Croatia                                   Verbum
Slovakia                                Fortuna Libri
Slovenia                                Druzina
Czech Republic                   Omega  
 

Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio)
Born in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, since 13 March 2013 he has been the Bishop of Rome and the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
On 13 March 2015 he decided to mark his pontificate by indicating a Holy Year of Mercy. On that occasion he published the international bestseller Il nome di Dio è Misericordia (The Name of God is Mercy): A conversation with Andrea Tornielli (2016). On 6 October 2016, he called the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to discuss the issue of “Youth, faith and vocational discernment”, which will be held in the Vatican from 3 to 28 October 2018, putting the issue of young people at the centre of its pastoral action and teaching.

Thomas Leoncini was born in 1985. A journalist and writer, engaged in the study of psychological and social models, he conversed with Zygmunt Bauman for Born Liquid (Sperling & Kupfer, 2017), the last work of the great sociologist who died and has been translated into 12 languages.