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.