January 16th, 2025

The Italian Literary Festival MULTIPLI FORTI in New York City

On this fine January morning the fourth and concluding day of the Multipli Forti literary festival will be held at the Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City! 

Since 2022, the scope and purpose of the festival has been to create a safe space for Italy’s contemporary writers, academics and students to meet and share ideas - and a great amount of enthusiasm - regarding their work. 

If you are able to attend, there is a special opportunity to meet prominent voices in Italy’s literary scene such as Donatella Di Pietrantonio (winner of the 2024 Premio Strega for L’Etá Fragile), as well as Nicoletta Verna, Emanuela Anechoum and many more.

For those who don’t find themselves in New York, you can watch the event’s livestream on youtube (​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFpXvStzm_A) and follow Multipli Forti on instagram (@multiplifortiny) to see snippets of what is going on and who is attending. On their profile you can also check today’s schedule - for instance, at 12pm there will be an exciting presentation of the Bridge Book Award, founded and curated by Maria Ida Gaeta who is also the artistic curator for the festival. 

Italian literature has for long been an important source of inspiration for those inside and outside its national context. Multipli Forti has now become a central moment in the discussions that have occurred in relation to the changes, developments and the different ways in which Italian literary voices are dealing with their vast heritage. Meeting the authors behind the books we read, speaking to those who continue to make Italian literature so surprising and new yet deeply aware of its own past, makes this a special occasion for all who benefit and have benefited from these voices. 

To conclude, ‘multipli forti’ means ‘multiple strengths’. I believe this is exactly what the festival is willing to do: showcase the multitude and heterogeneity of experiences in the contemporary Italian literary landscape. For this reason, just as the founders of the event have acknowledged, the logo is inspired by Giacomo Balla’s paintings. In his work, the artist attempts to summarize the numerous, congruous or discordant forces of the early 20th century. A time where everything seemed to irrevocably change at a speed nobody could really measure or make sense of.  Now more than ever, we can relate to Balla’s vision and use those past lessons to support and cherish projects that embrace “multitude” just as Multipli Forti does. 

Relevant Sources:

• Multipli Forti: La letteratura italiana che conquista New York

• Event Ad. on Rizzoli Bookstore

• Multipli Forti. Italian Literary Fiction Festival – I Edition – Istituto Italiano di Cultura di New York