Torino’s 35th international book fair with its professional program and rights center, succeeded amid torrential rains, flooding.
Concluding its 2023 run on Monday, the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino reports that its five consecutive days of extraordinary rains didn’t prevent it from breaking its attendance records.
As you may know, a reported 23,000 people are still not back in their homes, following extraordinarily persistent and heavy rainfall in the Emilia-Romagna, which regular Publishing Perspectives readers know is the province of Elena Pasoli‘s Bologna Children’s Book Fair‘s province, as well.
Alan Taylor is writing for The Atlantic (with compelling photos by Andreas Solaro for Agence France Presse and Getty) that the death toll now has reached 15 in the storms, with some figures on displaced residents reaching as high as 40,000.
Torino’s public-facing book fair’s organizers tell us today (May 23) that the show drew 215,000 visitors for this 35th edition of the Salone, which fielded 1,520 public events in the 50 venues on site.
Publishers have announced outstanding results in sales, reaching a gain of 60 percent over previous tallies for the Feltrinelli Group, 70 percent for the Mondadori Group, and an increase of at least 100 percent declared by Stefano Mauri and his team at Gruppo Editoriale Mauri Spagnol, which many of us know as GeMS.
Among the countless events and partnership initiatives, one that the Salone’s management has been particularly pleased with is its young readers’ program Bookstock, which attracted almost 25,000 readers, from kindergarten to high-school students.
There also was a first-time collaboration with Pista 500, which brought 9.500 readers to the stunning historic Fiat track.
The fair’s international bookshop has announced strong sales, with Colm Toibin’s The Magician at the top of the list.
In awards, Emmanuel Carrère won the European Strega, while Fernando Aramburo was honored with the Orbetello.
The ‘Salone Off’ program with its 600 events spread across some 300 venues in the city of Torino was attended by 30,000 visitors.
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