19-20 May 2017
Italian author Viola Di Grado, who in 2011, when she was only 23, broke into Italian literary world with the novel 70% Acrylic 30% Wool, will take part in two events at the Auckland Writers’ Festival:
Strange Happenings
19 May 2017, at 1.00 pm
Lower NZI Room, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland
Between death and life, the body and the spirit, strange things are afoot. Viola Di Grado (The Hollow Heart), George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo), Emma Neale (Billy Bird) and Jenny Powell (The Case of the Missing Body) will discuss readings on matters unusual. Introduced by Rachael King.
Free Event – no ticket required.
Viva Italia: Viola Di Grado
20 May 2017, at 10.30 am
Lower NZI Room, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland
Viola Di Grado shot onto Italy’s literary scene with her novel 70% Acrylic 30% Wool, taking out the 2011 Campiello First Novel Award. Her subsequent novel, PEN Literary Awards finalist Hollow Heart, has been similarly lauded for its originality and linguistic gymnastics, and mashup of the gothic with coming-of-age themes. Di Grado speaks with Jennifer Levasseur.
Entry ticket: $12.50-$25
Viola Di Grado is an award-winning novelist with works published in ten countries. Born in Catania, Italy, in 1987, she lived in England and Japan, and earned an MA in East Asian philosophies at the University of London. Acclaimed by Garzanti dictionary as “one of the most representative writers of the decade”, she was the youngest writer to be awarded the prestigious Campiello Opera Prima Award. Her debut book Settanta acrilico trenta lana (70% Acrylic 30% Wool) was also awarded the Rapallo Carige Award, it was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and it was a bestseller in both Italy and in the US. Her second book Cuore Cavo (Hollow Heart) was shortlisted for the PEN Literary Awards and the IPTA Italian Prose in Translation Award. In 2016 she chose to sign up with the controversial new publishing project founded by Umberto Eco and Elisabetta Sgarbi as a reaction to Mondadori’s acquisition of book publisher Bompiani (RCS Group), which resulted in forming a publishing colossus with no equivalent in the European landscape. Her third book, still unpublished in English-speaking countries, is called Bambini di ferro (Children of steel).
Information and bookings: www.writersfestival.co.nz