Farewell to Massimo Canalini, the publisher who discovered Enrico Brizzi and published “Jack Frusciante” who died at 66

2024-09-16 10:45:27

Publisher Massimo Canalinione of the most influential and visionary figures of contemporary Italian publishing, founder of the Transeuropa publishing house, he died at the age of 66. The announcement of its loss was made by Transeuropa itself. The funeral will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 17 September, at 10.30 am, in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in ​​via del Conero in Ancona.

Canalini changed the world of history, brought to the future writers who would mark an era. Thanks to you amazing ability to discover new talents, give voice to writers like Enrico Brizziwhich with “Jack Frusciante left the group” (1994) has become a tradition of Italian youth literature, and Silvia Ballestraauthor of memorable works such as “Iguana’s Birthday” (1991) and “Days of Revolution”, but Angelo Ferracuti and old Joyce Lussu also published which contributed to its rediscovery.

Born in Ancora in 1956Canalini founded the editorial publishing house Il Lavoro in his city in 1979 and Transeuropa in 1987, also in Ancona, with a precise vision of character, wisdom and civic commitment. Canalini turned Transeuropa into a hotbed of experimentation and creativity, offering a platform to 600 works and launching more than 40 authors. Together with his friend and intellectual accomplice Pier Vittorio Tondelli, he created an information laboratory, Under 25, which is not discover not only new talents, but also of the frontiers of Italian writing and the culture of the 80s and 90s.

“Canalini is not only a publisher, but a teacher for many, who shares his passion and his unrequited love for stories – writes Transeuropa in the commemorative statement – At the Turin Book Fair, aspiring writers lined up to talk to himto seek that valuable advice that would have opened the door to the world of publishing for them. Today we lost a visionary, an inventor who changed Italian history forever. His contribution to literature, his dedication and his selfless spirit will always be with us. On behalf of all of us at Transeuropa, we want to say thank you, Massimo, for everything you have given us. His legacy will live on in the pages he printed and the hearts he touched. Hello, Massimo. Thank you for everything.”

There are many social messages of comfort. “Massimo Canalini was a great publisher, very funny, punk, completely crazy, highly cultured, unpredictable, subversive. The frustration is great”, writes the writer Silvia Ballestra. “We all owe him a lot. Italian literature owes him a lot”, underlined Paolo Repetti of Einaudi Stile Libero.

Enrico Brizzi, who after 30 years has decided to build a sequel to his cult debut (“Because”, coming from HarperCollins Italia), wrote on Facebook: “I received the shocking news that Massimo Canalini, the first editor of ‘Jack Frusciante’ and a unique figure in the Italian publishing scene, has passed away. I met Max in February ’92 when he was twice my age; he taught me to take writing seriously and to have fun experimenting. We took my first novel around together to universities, conferences and crazy audiences like the Maurizio Costanzo Show, and for another ten years he was my editor. Neither he nor myself are simple people, I think that, after sharing priceless adventures and seeing the sun rise from the Adriatic sea, we have been away from each other for twenty years. After a long time, I saw him for the last time two weeks ago in Ancona, tired but determined to show me new projects (…) It will take time to understand what hit us; then it will be the case that all of us, not the former Under 25s and the hard Tondellians who have passed the rooms of Transeuropa, but all of us who have something to do with books, begin to come seriously with Max’s. most people, it can be said incidentally, that the office receives visitors under a large poster of an article that follows him as ‘the best talent scout in Italy’, but at the same time that He does not stand proud to define himself as. ‘Little publisher’. He also showed a certain satisfaction, like a leading man, but I never heard him joke about anything. I was thinking exactly when he described his work with a very important and interesting word, which most of the modern press would do well to review: ‘research'”.