A democratic festival, just like reading itself

The 27th edition of pordenonelegge has the ‘face’ of a dandelion: a wild plant that grows everywhere, even in the cracks in the concrete, as ‘democratic’ and free as reading itself. Or at least, as writing and reading books ought to be. For we know full well that in today’s world, freedom of opinion and expression, the freedom to read and write, as well as dissent, all too often come at a painful price. From Afghanistan to Iran, from China to Russia – where the story of Anna Politkovskaya continues to speak to us, twenty years on – our times show that nothing lasts forever, least of all individual rights. For this reason, until Sunday, pordenonelegge – which for several seasons now has proudly ‘borne’ the name ‘Festival of Books and Freedom’ – will not be ‘merely’ a forum for literary encounters, but the place where we bear witness to the fact that there is no freedom of the book without freedom of thought, and there is no true democracy without the possibility of dissent.

In this edition, which has just opened with Salman Rushdie and will conclude on Sunday with an in-person address by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and the ‘Concerto per l’Italia’ concert by the trio Il Volo, we have designed the Dissensio Arena, a space hosting authors and intellectuals from or in exile from Afghanistan, Iran, China, Turkey, Algeria, Russia and other countries. It is the festival’s stage dedicated to freedom of speech and to those around the world who have suffered in the cause of upholding it – the most effective way to celebrate the act of reading and sharing a book: a gesture capable of changing people’s lives, outlooks and perspectives. At a festival hosting over 694 Italian and international voices, and offering no fewer than 447 events across five days, including 60 book launches, the Dissensio Arena welcomes, amongst others, the Iranian writer Kader Abdolah (a naturalised Dutch citizen), the Franco-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, the Iranian poet and activist Bita Malakuti, the young Syrian author Amani El Nasif, the Algerian writer Amal Bouchareb, the Israeli Assaf Gavrone and the Turkish-Kurdish Burhan Sönmez, as well as the exiled Chinese writer Liao Yiwu, who has recounted his experiences of Wuhan and the Chinese government’s conduct during the dramatic period of the pandemic. And the Ukrainian Yaryna Grusha, who arrived in Italy as a ‘Chernobyl child’ and is now a leading figure on the international literary scene from our country.

Also in the coming days, the ‘Arena Europa’ section returns to pordenonelegge, having become a defining feature of the festival for debating the great challenges of our time and for ‘spreading’, throughout the festival, the values of freedom inherent in European culture. It is in the very heart of Europe, in Prague – a symbol of active resilience for freedom and culture through the Velvet Revolution of ’89 – that the 27th edition of pordenonelegge will officially draw to a close, with a programme of public events this coming October. Meanwhile, for the first time, the special ‘Ambassador of Freedom’ honour will be awarded by the Pordenonelegge.it Foundation to celebrate those who act as spokespeople and guardians of a priceless value: This year, the award will be presented to President Sergio Mattarella, who honours us with his presence, to Salman Rushdie, and to Vera Politkovskaya, a key figure at the festival in the days leading up to the twentieth anniversary of the murder of her mother, the journalist Anna Politkovskaya. It was 7 October 2006.

Michelangelo Agrusti

Chair of the Pordenonelegge.it Foundation