Mondadori Retail, the company managing the most extensive network of bookshops in Italy, kicks off its awareness campaign ‘Women and Rights, Let’s Shine a Light Together’. This series of initiatives and activities aims to raise awareness of equality and gender violence, while focusing on books as a tool for in-depth analysis and comparison. The events will take place from 5 to 18 March 2024.

Kicking off the project is Gino Cecchettin at the Verdi Theatre in Padua, an exceptional location in the bookshop network. This moment of public meeting and interaction will focus on the weighty topics emerging from the pages of his book Cara Giulia. Quello che ho imparato da mia figlia ‘ (Rizzoli), written in collaboration with the author Marco Franzoso.

Starting on Saturday 9 March and followed by about 20 other dates, first-time author Roberta Recchia will appear at various Mondadori Bookstores around Italy to present and sign copies of her debut novel ‘Tutta la vita che resta’ (Rizzoli). This extraordinary and international success (rights already sold in 13 countries) tells the story of a family finding its way through the strength of affection. Click here to discover the stops on the tour.

Many authors have joined the awareness campaign. To celebrate International Women’s Day, the bookstore network is holding meetings and readings throughout the month of March with female writers from the Mondadori Group’s publishing houses, as well as some of the most prominent female voices in contemporary Italian literature. Participants include: Anna Toscano, Azzurra Rinaldi, Beatrice Salvioni, Carlotta Cossutta, Chiara Alessi, Dalila Bagnuli, Emanuela Canepa, Giulia Paganelli, Ilaria Dondi, Jennifer Guerra, Roberta Recchia, Sara Benatti and Tea Ranno. They will post a reading of a particularly heartfelt passage from one of their books on Mondadori Store’s official social accounts, inviting the public to reflect on the urgent issue of equality and gender violence through reading and, more generally, through culture. The social media profiles will also include a reading of Frida Kahlo’s poem ‘You deserve a lover’, in which booksellers from participating shops will take turns reading a few stanzas.

Finally, to further enhance the initiative, bookshops will decorate their windows and shelves to reflect the theme, adopting the specially created icon and giving visibility and prominence to some carefully selected titles, including: carefully selected titles, including: ‘Stai zitta e altre nove frasi che non vogliamo sentire’ (Einaudi) by Michela Murgia, ‘They Didn’t See Us Coming’ (Mondadori) by Lisa Levenstein, ‘Io sono Marie Curie’ (Sperling) by Sara Rattaro, ‘A Summer in the Red Scarf’ (Mondadori) by Elena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova and ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women’ (Mondadori) by Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli.

The campaign is active both in stores and on digital channels: bookshops, e-commerce site, social profiles, newsletters and meetings with authors. Click here to discover all the initiatives.