Its title is “HOPE”, the autobiography of Pope Francis, the first in history to be written by a pope, and it will appear simultaneously worldwide in principal languages and in over 80 countries next January. The announcement of the event took place today at the Frankfurt Book Fair by Mondadori, which manages world rights.

“The book of my life is the story of a journey of hope, a journey that I cannot separate from the journey of my family, of my people, of all God’s people. In every page, in every passage, it is also the book of those who have traveled with me, of those who came before, of those who will follow,” comments Pope Francis in the note that announces the publication of the book. “An autobiography is not our own private story, but rather the baggage we carry with us. And memory is not just what we recall, but what surrounds us. It doesn’t speak only about what has been, but about what will be. It seems like yesterday, and yet it’s tomorrow. All is born to blossom in an eternal springtime. In the end, we will say only: I don’t recall anything in which You are not there.”

With a wealth of revelations and unpublished stories, moving and very human, poignant and dramatic, but also capable of real humor, Francis’s memoir starts off in the early years of the twentieth century with the story of his Italian roots and his ancestors’ adventure of emigration to Latin America, moving on to his childhood, adolescence, choice of vocation, adult life, covering the whole of his papacy up to the present day. A text of great narrative force in which the Pope through his autobiographical account addresses candidly, courageously and prophetically some of the most important and controversial questions of our current times, as well as the crucial moments of his service as universal pastor of the Church.

Written with Carlo Musso, former non-fiction editorial director of Piemme and Sperling & Kupfer, and then founder of the independent publisher Libreria Pienogiorno, in accordance with the wishes of Pope Francis this exceptional document was originally intended to be published after his death, but the new Jubilee of Hope announced for 2025, and the needs of our times, have moved him to make this precious legacy available now. “It has been a long, intense adventure that has taken up the past six years: work on writing it began in March 2019 and will be completed in the forthcoming weeks,” Musso comments.

The book, destined to fascinate readers throughout the world and to represent a legacy of hope for future generations, is enhanced by some remarkable photographs, including private and unpublished material made personally available by the Pope himself.

These are the publishers now involved in the publication: Italy Mondadori, USA Random House, UK Viking, Canada Penguin Random House, France Albin Michel, Germany Penguin Random House / Kösel-Verlag, Spain Penguin Random House, Portugal Penguin Random House, Brazil Companhia das letras, Croatia Znanje, Slovakia Ikar, Hungary Kossuth Kiado, Romania Polirom, Greece Gutenberg Dardanos, Korea Catholic Publishing House, Catalonia Penguin Random House / Rosa del vents, Poland Swiat Ksiazki, Lithuania Lithuanian Writers Union, Czechia Euromedia.

Mondadori Group, Italy’s largest book publisher, presents Audiobooks in the Dark, a sensory journey dedicated to the accessibility and inclusiveness of audio storytelling.

The initiative, which will take place on Monday 23 September at Fondazione Istituto dei Ciechi in Milan, Via Vivaio 7, aims to raise awareness of the importance of universal, inclusive access to culture and reading through the potential of audio books.

Participants will experience an immersive journey developed in collaboration with the Foundation, in which listening will be the key feature.

The event is dedicated to audiobook listeners of all ages, but also to enthusiasts, people curious to experience this type of reading and anyone who loves stories and wants to discover a new way to access them.

Event Schedule

‘Audiobooks in the Dark’ will be held in three sessions on Monday 23 September at 3 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm.
Each session will begin with a talk on audiobooks by special guests, including Chiara Anicito — a writer, content creator and reader of audiobooks by Cristina Cassar Scalia (Einaudi author) — and Martina Levato — a content creator and audiobook voice who will present a preview of the audiobook of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Mondadori).
Linus, a radio presenter and voice of the audiobook What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami Haruki (Einaudi), will also be present at the 3 pm and 5 pm talks.
The meeting will be moderated by Alessandro Barbaglia, an author, podcaster and audiobook narrator. Barbaglia is one of the authors of the Ossigeno series by Mondadori Ragazzi, which offers a series of highly readable stories for middle school children accustomed to quick forms of narration, from social media to video games to TV series. In their audiobook format, the titles in the series acquire an additional level of accessibility, so that everyone can enjoy them.

At the end of the event, participants will be guided through the unique experience of Dialogue in the Dark, presented by the Fondazione Istituto dei Ciechi. In this unique opportunity, people can experience how they can interact with the world around them without sight, deepening the crucial role of the senses in everyday experience.

Participation is free of charge: booking is necessary via the website EventBrite. Places at each session are limited.

Link to Dialogue in the Dark
https://www.dialogonelbuio.org/index.php/it/il-percorso

Reading is a journey that leads us to discover new worlds, different cultures and, most importantly, ourselves. What better time to indulge in this practice than during the summer?

Why is summer reading so special?

With its long days and more relaxed pace, summer offers the ideal time and attitude for reading. Without the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we can finally indulge in the pleasure of leafing through a book, letting ourselves be captivated by the stories and losing ourselves in the words. Reading during the summer helps us expand our horizons, stimulating our imagination, keeping our minds exercised and reducing stress.

Here are our recommendations for holiday reading

Whatever your destination, we thought we’d offer you a collection of books selected from the most read and appreciated titles of our publishing houses (Battello a vapore, De Agostini, Einaudi, Electa, Mondadori, Mondadori Electa, Mondadori Children’s Books, Piemme, Rizzoli and Sperling & Kupfer, Star Comics and Utet), designed to satisfy readers of all ages.

The Mondadori Group participates in the celebration of love in all its forms and nuances through some of the most interesting and representative books published by our publishing houses, dealing with themes such as diversity.

In our Group, we strive every day to build a more inclusive world where everyone can feel loved and accepted. So this month, through the power of words, writing and reading, we want to promote stories that speak a universal language: the language of love.

Knopf publishing house has announced the publication of Alexei Navalny’s memoir, Patriot. The book will be released on 22 October and published in Italy by Mondadori.

Navalny started writing Patriot in 2020, shortly after he was poisoned. The book tells the whole story of his life: his youth, the time he felt the need to devote himself to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to democracy, and freedom in Russia, which saw him stand up to a world superpower determined to silence him. Navalny was convinced that change could not be resisted, that change will come eventually, and these pages clearly express his message.

With a wealth of gripping details, including unpublished letters from prison, Navalny recounts his political career, the various attempts on his life and the lives of those closest to him, as well as the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.

Navalny’s widow, Julija Navalnaya, comments, «This book is a testimony not only to Alexei’s life, but also to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship, a fight for which he sacrificed everything, including his life. In these pages, readers will come to know the man I loved deeply, a man of absolute integrity and courage. Telling his life story is a way of honouring his memory and inspiring others to fight for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that really matter».

Written with the passion, acumen, candour and courage for which Navalny was rightly acclaimed, Patriot is his last letter to the world, a touching account of the last years he spent in the world’s most brutal prison, a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom are inalienable, a pressing exhortation to continue the work for which he gave his life.

The book is being published worldwide and will be released in hardback, e-book and audio book editions. The global release date is 22 October 2024. In the US, the first print run is 500,000 copies.

A long-standing market leader in paperbacks, Oscar Mondadori – now directed by Luigi Belmonte – has signed an agreement with the independent brand NN Editore – founded and directed by Eugenia Dubini – to publish Kent Haruf’s works in paperback. This forms part of a broader editorial policy aimed at reissuing important titles by independent brands in paperback, as is systematically done, for example, in the French publishing market.

«With admiration, I have followed the wise rediscovery and launch of Kent Haruf’s work carried out by NN Editore, along with the success it has achieved. And I dreamed», says Elisabetta Risari, editor at Oscar, «of one day being able to include his novels, with their profound humanity and sober writing, in the wide, varied panorama of modern and contemporary classics in the Oscar Moderni catalogue. Today we celebrate this achievement together with NN and we hope to replicate the experience again in the future.»

«Kent Haruf marked the birth of the NN publishing house and has been winning the hearts of Italian readers for ten years. As of today», says Eugenia Dubini, «Haruf will have two homes. Our editions will be flanked by the paperbacks published by Oscar, and this collaboration — reinforced by the presence of the NN brand on the cover — makes me happy and proud. First, for the author, who is now considered a full-fledged contemporary classic, and also for the readers of the paperbacks, who will meet Haruf in this excellent series.»

It all starts today, 2 April, with the arrival in bookshops of Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong Trilogy” in the new Oscar editions, the richest catalogue in Europe of 20th-century Italian and international authors. Through an agreement with NN Editore, which will retain the original editions, the three books in this highly successful trilogy — Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction — will be available in the “Oscar Moderni” series, followed on 7 May, in “Oscar Cult”, by the bestseller Our Souls at Night.

Often compared to Faulkner and Hemingway, his constant points of reference, Kent Haruf shares the rejection of any stylistic affectation and extraordinarily clean dialogue with another American literary giant, Raymond Carver.

Released by NN between 2015 and 2016, Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction have garnered a loyal and devoted audience, and more readers will now be able to travel to Holt County, smile at Addie Moore or meet the unforgettable McPheron brothers.

This year, 15 October marks the centenary of the birth of Italo Calvino, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, and the Mondadori Group wants to pay tribute to his life and literary output with a rich program of events.

New editions in bookstores

Events for this anniversary include new editions of Italo Calvino’s works. The author’s books are now available in bookstores with a new layout designed with illustrations by Jack Smyth, a young British illustrator.

As of mid-September 2023, Marilena Rossi will take on the role of Head of Italian Fiction at Mondadori, reporting directly to Francesco Anzelmo, General Manager of the publishing house.

«It is an honour to pick up the baton as head of Italian Fiction. I am grateful to those who preceded me and to Mondadori’s management, especially Francesco Anzelmo, for their trust. Together with our team of brilliant and highly experienced professionals, we will continue to provide readers with as varied an offering as possible. The privilege of working in a large publishing house with a multi-variegated catalogue is the possibility of pursuing a wide-ranging cultural project. We will cultivate the literary dimension, through the work of established writers and the constant search for new voices, and pay great attention to genre and popular fiction, in its various forms. From comedies – so successful in Italian cinema, but still full of potential in novel form – to thrillers, historical novels, family sagas and the great Mondadori tradition of crime fiction. As passionate and insightful readers, we will also try to intercept new trends and discern the as yet unexpressed desires of readers.»

Marilena Rossi was born in Milan in 1977 and has two daughters. After graduating in modern literature from the University of Milan, between 2004 and 2008 she continued her studies in the academic environment and collaborated with various literary journals.

In 2008 she joined Mondadori as a desk editor and editor-in-chief under Antonio Franchini; later she worked with Carlo Carabba and Giovanni Francesio – who preceded her in the role of head of Italian fiction – and became the point of reference for many of the publishing house’s most important and representative authors.

In 2015, Rossi became an acquiring editor and, in addition to working with authors in the Mondadori portfolio, built a successful track record in discovering and acquiring new voices, many of whom are now established authors.

She has been running a writing workshop at the Belleville School in Milan since 2019.

 

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Photo by Claudio Sforza

This June, our brands take part in the festivities of Pride month, a time of the year dedicated to celebrating the diversity, inclusion and rights of the LGBTQIA+ communities.

Pride month is an occasion to foster values such as respect, equality and tolerance towards each individual, regardless of their gender, identity or sexual preferences.

For pride month, we recommend a series of publications on LGBTQIA+ topics published by our publishing houses. We believe in the power of books as a tool used to convey inclusiveness through stories speaking of all shades of love.

Mondadori and Star Comics created a special Pride month page on their respective websites to demonstrate their commitment towards inclusion and diversity. In fact, the same will contain various book suggestions for its readers. And there’s something for everyone: from comics to novels or autobiographies to memoirs.

Thanks to this initiative, people can access a vast range of editorial offers depicting heartfelt and open-minded stories full of brave characters.

Our publishing houses also suggest other reading suggestions:

The Wom also created a special section on its website. The Wom in fact addresses its community through such area by sharing content developed to give space to the LGBTQIA+ communities and clarify the most controversial issues to spread awareness and inclusion.

 

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Salman Rushdie, one of the most important advocates of contemporary international culture, returns to bookstores with a new novel published by Mondadori: Victory City. The story speaks of the creation and development of Bisnaga (literally “Victory City” in 14th century India) by the will of the Goddess Pampa Kampana, who revealed herself to a young orphan bearing her name; but, above all, the story emphasises the most important goal: that of ensuring equal power to women in a patriarchal world.

Synopsis

In 14th century India, following a bloody battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms, a nine-year-old girl makes a divine encounter bound to change the course of history.

The very young Pampa Kampana, overwhelmed with pain since her mother’s death, becomes a medium for her homonymous Goddess, who not only begins speaking through her, but who also grants her huge powers, thus revealing her role will be determinant for the birth of a great city called Bisnaga (literally “Victory City”).

Over the following 250 years, Pampa Kampana’s life is deeply intertwined with that of Bisnaga: from its creation, which was made possible thanks to a bag of magical seeds, to its tragic destruction, which was caused by the arrogance of the powerful. The story, whispered through the words our heroine, gradually gives life to Bisnaga and its citizens in the attempt to fulfil the task entrusted to her by the Goddess: ensuring equal power to women in a patriarchal world. However, all stories have a way of becoming independent from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. Over the years, following a succession of rulers, battles won and others lost, the fabric of Bisnaga continues to assume an increasingly more complex pattern, at the centre of which our heroine endures. Brilliantly structured like the translation of an ancient epic, Victory City is a saga of love, adventure, myth and a confirmation of the power of storytelling.

The author

Salman Rushdie, born in Mumbai, in 1945, moved to London at the age of fourteen and studied at King’s College, in Cambridge. Not only has he written novels such as Shame, Midnight’s Children, The Moor’s Last Sigh, Shalimar The Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, Quichotte, but also news stories and many essays. Following the 1988 publication of his novel, The Satanic Verses, he became subject of various serious threats and was forced to lead a semi-clandestine life under police protection. On August 12th 2022, he was severely stabbed at a literary event near New York. He is unanimously considered one of the most important advocates of contemporary international culture.