books

From tomorrow changes to the organisational structure of the press office and events area of Edizioni Mondadori will come into effect, aimed at bringing product communication closer, on the one hand, to editorial development and, on the other, to marketing activities.

Changes largely determined by the so-called digital revolution have significantly reinstated the primacy of the author-publisher-reader relationship.

In line with the focus on content, regardless of the distribution platform, the role of communication needs to be reconsidered in order to ensure an ever-closer link with the publishing house.

Consequently, the head of the press office of Edizioni Mondadori, Francesca Gariazzo, will now report directly to the literary director Antonio Riccardi, who will also be responsible for the Rome office.

Promotional activities and events management – overseen by Nadia Focile – will become, like digital communication activities, part of the marketing department, headed by Giovanni Dutto.

“These organisational changes,” announced Riccardo Cavallero, the Mondadori Group’s general manager of Trade Books, “is a further demonstration of the innovative approach that characterises our publishing group and is ensuring an effective response to the new digital technologies”.

“I would like to thank Piera Cusani for the professionalism and grace with which she has managed the communication of books,” Cavallero continued, “and in the three years that we have worked together I have appreciated the enthusiasm the she brings to everything she does, from the day-to-day to the invention of the Anteprima Festival. I wish Piera every success in the future and I am sure that her team will be able to continue to work effectively along the lines that she has laid down over the years.”

What’s the best way of explaining to the citizens of tomorrow – the children and adolescents of today – that they already have rights? How can we explain in a way suitable for them an issue that involves national and international law? Vincenzo Spadafora, the head of the Italian Authority for Children and Adolescents had the idea of asking for the assistance of Geronimo Stilton. The result is a special book Che avventura stratopica, Stilton! Alla scoperta dei diritti dei ragazzi, published by Piemme: a project of exceptional ethical and educational value that aims to explain the Authority’s activities.

The book was presented on 10 June at the Senate in Rome to mark the publication of the second annual report of the Authority for Children and Adolescents to the Speaker of the Senate Piero Grasso, the Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Luigi Di Maio, the Minster of Justice Annamaria Cancellieri as well, of course, to the guests present.

A special section of the book is dedicated to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, approved by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989. It is a pull-out insert that can be removed and kept.

Che avventura stratopica, Stilton! Alla scoperta dei diritti dei ragazzi is a special edition, created for the Authority by Piemme. Anyone interested in having a free copy can apply to Autorità Garante per l’Infanzia e l’Adolescenza – via di Villa Ruffo, 6 – 00196 ROMA, write to segreteria@garanteinfanzia.org, or contact the Authority on its Facebook profile.

The fourth edition of “ANTEPRIME – Ti racconto il mio prossimo libro” will be held in Pietrasanta from 7 to 9 June 2013. The event, which is the result of cooperation between the municipality of Pietrasanta and the publishing houses Einaudi, Electa, Frassinelli, Mondadori, Netwon Compton, Piemme and Sperling & Kupfer.

From 6.30 pm until well into the night, in a range of different spaces in the centre of Pietrasanta Italian and foreign authors, both newcomers and established names, such as Novel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk will meet the public. This year the festival will be opened, on Friday 7 June, by an exceptional guest Dan Brown.

At the various spaces around Pietrasanta the authors will be accompanied by their editors. Some will give readings from new or even unpublished works, others will talk about the construction of their next book, all with a desire to satisfy the public demand to get a closer look at their favourite authors. Anteprime will also see the return of the now traditional appointment with poetry with a homage to Vittorio Sereni to mark the centenary of his birth. Much space will also be given to children and young readers: in addition to the children’s stories corner, a number of authors, including superstar Geronimo Stilton, will offer sneak peeks from upcoming books.

ANTEPRIME 2013 – information and program

XS is a new digital series from Mondadori of short texts by great authors, available exclusively in the ebook format.
A new, fast and direct way to read. New or preview content, fiction and non-fiction, by the best known and most appreciated authors, offering the reading public a guarantee of excellent quality. A small challenge for the ebook market: while there is no shortage of short books out there, the XS Mondadori series is characterised by the choice of authors, stories or subjects, and aims to become a sort of think tank, suggesting new ways of seeing, reading and dealing with reality.
Most of the texts are previously unpublished, but there will also be little known works or preview passages from forthcoming books.
The six launch titles in the series are a mix of these different approaches: two new works (Con Picasso incasso by Francesco Bonami and 2012 Ultime notizie dalla fine del mondo by Roberto Giacobbo), two that previously appeared in Nuovi Argomenti (Pastiche proustiano in salsa biancoceleste by Alessandro Piperno and Una suora siciliana by Dacia Maraini) and two teasers for upcoming titles (E adesso facciamo il cinematografo! by Francesco Rosi with Giuseppe Tornatore and Nashira, Nascita di una ribelle by Licia Troisi).
Low, really low prices: from 0.99 cents to €1.99. Available from all major e-book stores.

Francesco Bonami
Con Picasso incasso
The irreverent art critic explains the sensational, commercial and public success of Pablo Picasso.

Roberto Giacobbo
2012 Ultime notizie dalla fine del mondo
The author of the best-selling 2012 – la fine del mondo brings us up to date with the latest news about a date that gets closer and closer, and tells us how not to be afraid.

Alessandro Piperno
Pastiche proustiano in salsa biancoceleste
The tragicomic misadventures of a Lazio fan in Rome. From Proust to Cragnotti, the story of an obsession with hilarious moments and surprising reflections.

Dacia Maraini
Una suora siciliana
An impossible encounter between two women of different ages, in a Sicily caught between nostalgia for the past and hope for the future.

Francesco Rosi with Giuseppe Tornatore
E adesso facciamo il cinematografo
A preview of the book Io lo chiamo cinematografo. Extracts from the biography of a great film director, with never before published stories, such as his first time at the Venice Film Festival.

Licia Troisi
Nascita di una ribelle
The magical story of Eshar, set in the fantasy world of the I regni di Nashira saga (the second volume of which is due out in November).

In the centre of Milan, in Piazza Duomo, inside the Libreria Mondadori Multicenter, for a number of days Geronimo Stilton, the popular editor of the The Rodent’s Gazette, has been preparing a cheddarific (surprise for his young readers: in fact it will be possible to visit the house where he stays on his frequent visits to the city!

The space features the characteristic screaming yellow walls, which recall the house in New Mouse City and, as you enter on the left, you’ll find the relax corner, in which the fireplace stands out, and beside which is an armchair that invites you to take a seat and read from the pages of an exciting book …
In the study there is a desk, where you will see the typewriter that Grandpa William gave to Geronimo when he turned over the management of The Rodent’s Gazette to him.

On the walls there are maps of New Mouse City and Mouse Island, as well as the most important prizes won.
Continuing the tour, the young visitors will come to the kitchen with a wonderful stove.
And of course, a house like this wouldn’t be complete without a big bookcase!
The Geronimo Stilton house can be visited for free by everyone during the Multicenter Mondadori’s normal opening hours (every day, including Sundays, from 9am to 11pm).

Geronimo Stilton is an extraordinary publishing phenomenon that since 2000, the year in which the first books were published by Piemme, has spread from Italy across the world. Indeed, the character can now rightly be considered and authentic “classic” that is destined to live on and become increasingly popular.
Born in New Mouse City (Mouse Island), Geronimo Stilton is the Rattus Emeritus of Mousomorphic Literature and Neo-Ratonic Comparative Philosophy. He is the editor of The Rodent’s Gazette, Mouse Island’s leading and most popular newspaper. His book, which have been translated into 36 languages, have sold more than 23 million copies in Italy alone, and 74 million around the world.
His web site is: www.geronimostilton.com

Mondadori and Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company announced today from The London Book Fair that they have formed an international digital publishing partnership. Open Road will digitize, distribute and market english language versions of titles from Mondadori’s catalog starting with 50 ebooks. Mondadori is Open Road’s first foreign publishing partner and this announcement kicks off Open Road’s International Publishing Partner Program.

Jane Friedman cofounder and CEO of Open Road said: “The rise of digital publishing has made the world a smaller place and we are now able to quickly and efficiently publish translations of international books. Open Road is committed to working with international publishers to bring
works from foreign countries to a wider audience than they have ever had before. We are excited to build on the success we have enjoyed with our American partners and to start our international publishing program with Mondadori.”

“Thanks to the digital revolution,” said Maurizio Costa, deputy chairman and chief executive of the Mondadori Group, “geographical barriers are falling and the publisher is increasingly becoming also the promoter of its authors, not only at the national level, but also internationally. To publish in English the works of our most prestigious Italian authors,” Costa continued, “is a source of pride and satisfaction for Mondadori. Thanks to our commitment to digital and our partnership with Open Road, we can finally offer our authors direct access to the biggest market in the world.”

Open Road will digitally market all of the titles in the partnership. The company will create original marketing videos that will be distributed through its online platform and syndicated to content partners.
This announcement takes Open Road’s publishing partners program global. Since its launch, Open Road has worked with a variety of American publishers including MysteriousPress.com, Pegasus Books and Albert Whitman & Company.

The ebooks will be on sale globally starting this summer from Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, BarnesandNoble.com, Google/IndieBound, Kobo Books,OverDrive, and the Sony Reader Store.

Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media. Open Road
has published ebooks from legendary authors including William Styron, Pat Conroy, Alice Walker, Jean Craighead George, Bette Greene, and Virginia Hamilton.

The Mondadori Group is among the most important publishing houses in Europe and is Italy’s biggest publisher of books through its publishing houses Edizioni Mondadori, Einaudi, Piemme and Sperling & Kupfer. Its wide-ranging production covers all market segments, including the ebook market.

To celebrate the redesign and relaunch of the SIS, Scrittori Italiani e Stranieri series, Mondadori has organised four special encounters, to be held at the Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan, with some of the publishing house’s most important authors.

Taking the stage on 6 February will be Alessandro Piperno, on 27 February it will be the turn of Paolo Giordano, while on 5 March the guest will be Carlos Ruiz Zafon. This series of encounters will close with Margaret Mazzantini and David Grossman on 26 March.
Entry is free though limited to the capacity of the theatre.

After thirteen years, Mondadori is redesigning and relaunching the SIS, Scrittori Italiani e Stranieri series, the company’s most important fiction series that includes the great masters, new discoveries and the most fascinating and interesting voices of international literature.
Making a return of the covers of the titles from the Scrittori Italiani e Stranieri series is the noble and ancient symbol of the rose and a quotation from Dante “in su la cima” (right at the top), a symbol of patience and beauty that, since 1934 – when it appeared for the first time on the frontispiece of the Classici Italiani series – has characterised the books published by Edizioni Mondadori.

The Help, the debut novel by Kathryn Stockett (published in Italy by Mondadori), and a bestseller with sales of over 10 million copies around the world and over a million ebook downloads of Amazon, is coming to the big screen.

The film, which is on general release in Italy from 20 January, is a faithful account of the story told by Kathryn Stockett in her book.
At the beginning of the ’60s, in a small town in Mississipi, three extraordinary and completely different women join forces for a common project.
Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, played in the film by Emma Stone, is a young graduate recently returned from college to live with her family who finds it hard to conform to the plan of married life prepared for her by her mother. She prefers to dedicate herself to her one big passion, writing.
Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis), meanwhile, is a caring black maid who has, one after another, brought up seventeen white children and who has to face the loss of her own son, killed in an accident at work to the general indifference of the local mainly white community.
Minny (Octavia Spencer) is Aibileen’s best friend. Short, overweight and with a violent husband, despite being an excellent cook, she moves from family to family due to her inability to control her behaviour.
Despite marked social, cultural and character differences, the three women begin to work secretly on a book that will put them at great risk; a book that gives an account of the day to day life of black maids working for white families and based of the direct experience of the protagonists.

The film, which has already been a huge box office hit in the United States, received five nominations for the 2012 Golden Globe 2012, with Octavia Spencer win the award for best actress in a supporting role.

In the Devoto-Oli Le Monnier dictionary you will find the Italian of Dante and digital natives, the latest jargon of economists and the most colourful expressions in dialect: from papello to green economy and from lungi to pescetariano. An Italian dictionary is a meeting point where all Italians ought to be able to recognise themselves, a place where the specialised terminology of the scientist can live with the neologism of journalists, the slang of youth, the formal language of literary tradition, the dialects of the different regions and loan words imported from around the world.

The Devoto-Oli is the ideal dictionary for all those who want to have an appropriate control over how they express themselves and use the language on a daily basis and who want to stand out without showing themselves up. A tool that, when used as necessary, makes all the difference.

This is the start of the promotional campaign for the 2012 edition of the ground-breaking Le Monnier dictionary.

The claim developed by the Turin-based advertising company INEDITHA is The 2012 Devoto-Oli: you can tell who uses it. The three “subjects” use a number of polished expressions (chiedo venia, calende greche, sollucchero), in contexts that are familiar to everyone, for example a jokey message between colleagues on an iPad during a meeting; a graffiti message on a wall to a girlfriend and a note left on a windscreen with apologies for damage caused (Chiedo venia per aver urtato la sua macchina).

The campaign will run at 125 Mondadori Franchising and Mondadori Retail outlets around the country and is aimed at the end-user with a view to encouraging purchase: to teens, students, families, to those who study, read and work with the language and not only professionals, teachers and intellectuals.

100 Mondadori bookstore franchises and 25 Retail outlets will have totems, double-sided flags, change machines and promo-card at cash desks and the windows of the outlets will be dressed featuring the three subjects. At both networks monitors will show the campaign video and inside the Mondadori Multicenter in Piazza Duomo in Milan, there will be a giant panel with one of the three subjects.

The campaign will also run in the specialised educational press (Tuttoscuola), in la Repubblica newspaper, the magazines of the two bookstore chains involved in the campaign and, with banners (leaderboards and skyscrapers) on the Ibs, Libraccio and Mondadori Education websites.

The 2012 Devoto-Oli
The 2012 edition of the Devoto-Oli Le Monnier dictionary includes 350 new words, 150,000 clear and exhaustive definitions; 40,000 locutions and clearly indicated expressions; 3,240 two-colour pages; constantly updated scientific terminology, with neologisms such as Evo-Devo (evolution of development), cisgenico, psicocorporeo and mineralogramma.

The selection of new words – that provides a clear indication of the evolution of the language, and that includes the expressions of digital natives, the jargon of economists and a range of current expressions – great importance is given to dialects and foreign loan words. Among the 350 new items included in the new edition are those related to ecology, from current affairs and politics, the world of business and finance, the jargon of TV and newspapers, and the world of youth, from new technologies, fashion and new trends, as well as advertising.

The dictionary is available with a multi-platform DVD-Rom (Windows, Mac and Linux) – that can also be used on an Interactive Multimedia Board, which as well as containing the entire up-dated version of the Devoto-Oli, also includes a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms – and with an annual licence for online consultation, that provides access to the dictionary from any computer in any location.

Finally, the mobile version is available from the Apple Store with the App universale of the 2012 Devoto-Oli for the iPhone and iPad.

Mondadori and Amazon today announced an agreement which will make more than 2,000 e-books published by the Mondadori Group available to Kindle customers. Customers across Europe will be able to buy Mondadori books through Kindle stores on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.com.

According to Mondadori, the Mondadori, Einaudi, Sperling&Kupfer and Piemme publishing houses will offer thousands of e-books to Kindle customers in Europe from Kindle Stores. In addition, Mondadori expects to add another 1,000 titles by Christmas for readers to enjoy, including all of the new titles planned by each publishing house in the coming autumn-winter season.

The Mondadori trade catalogue includes more than 10,000 titles, and in addition to many backlist titles all of the Group’s most important new titles have been launched simultaneously in print and digital formats since last January.

“For Mondadori, working with Amazon to make thousands of e-books available to Kindle customers is an important step forward in the Group’s digital development strategy,” Maurizio Costa, deputy chairman and chief executive of Mondadori. “After a year of studies and experimentation, we expect 2012 to show great acceleration of e-book sales in Italy. E-books have tremendous potential in our country and I expect them to be a major part of our business going forward,” Costa continued. “Mondadori aims to play a driving role, making available to readers by 2012 more than 8,000 books in digital format and we are excited to work with Amazon to take this step”.

“One of our top priorities for Kindle is increasing selection for our customers in all languages,” said Greg Greeley, vice president, Amazon EU. “We already offer customers in over 100 countries thousands of foreign language titles. Now, together with Mondadori, we are excited to bring Italian-language titles to Kindle readers in Europe from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.com.”