2023-07-17 11:20:54
The novel “La portalettere” by the Apulian writer Francesca Giannone (Editrice Nord) won the 71st edition of the Bancarella Prize with 172 votes out of a total of 179, awarded during the public award ceremony which took place in Piazza della Repubblica, as per tradition , in Pontremoli (Massa Carrara). The other finalists were: Massimo Cotto with “The King of Memory” (Gallucci Editore), Davide Cossu with “The Fifth Seal” (NewtonCompton), Bea Buozzi with “The Year of Rediscovered Words” (Morellini Editore), Sandro Neri with “Gaber” (Hoepli), Federica De Paolis with “Le distrazioni” (Harper Collins).
Francesca Giannone’s novel is set in the author’s birthplace, Lizzanello, in Salento, where in June 1934 Anna arrives from the North, who will forever remain “the foreigner” for all, with her husband Carlo, originally from the South, who instead go home. A year later, in 1935, Anna does something truly revolutionary: she takes part in a post office competition, wins it and becomes Lizzanello’s first letter carrier. The news makes women turn up their noses and elicits derisive laughs from men. “It won’t last,” someone snide. And instead, for over twenty years, Anna will become the invisible thread that unites the inhabitants of the country. First on foot and then by bicycle, she will deliver the letters of the boys at the front, the postcards of the emigrants, the missives of the secret lovers. Without intending it – but above all without the country wanting it – the postwoman will change many things in Lizzanello.
Monica Marangoni, presenter of the ceremony with Davide Combusti aka ‘The Niro’, proclaimed the winner at the end of the counting of the jurors’ ballots by the notary Sara Rivieri. The prize depicting St. John of God was presented by the mayor of Pontremoli, Jacopo Ferri, by the prefect of Massa Carrara, Guido Aprea, by the president of the Fondazione Città del Libro, Ignazio Landi, by the secretary of the Prize, Giuditta Bertoli.
The ceremony of the 71st Bancarella Award was preceded by the delivery of the Bancarella Sport Award: the 60th edition was won by the book “Una vita in alto” (Rai Libri) by Sara Simeoni, written with the journalist Marco Franzelli. The 1980 Olympic champion of the high jump, with 140 votes, distanced by fifteen lengths, “Un gioco da bambini” (Rizzoli) by Bruno Conti and Giammarco Menga.
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