Venice, Friday 15 November: announcement of the winner of the 61st edition of the Settembrini Prize.

"The Settembrini Award has reached its long-awaited moment: the announcement of the winner during the ceremony-show on Friday, November 15 at the Toniolo Theater in Mestre. This prestigious literary award, the most important in Italy dedicated to short fiction and the novella, now in its 61st edition, represents an event of great importance in the cultural panorama of Veneto and Italy. The evocative title chosen for the evening, “Not even half of the things I have seen,” is a famous phrase attributed to Marco Polo, seven hundred years after his death this year, combining his spirit of exploration and discovery with the new horizons of contemporary Italian literature".

With these words, the councilor for culture of the Veneto Region, Cristiano Corazzari, announces the final evening of the 61st edition of the literary prize “Regione del Veneto – Leonilde e Arnaldo Settembrini, Mestre” on Friday 15 November at the Toniolo theatre in Mestre, starting at 18.00:4.000. The winner will be announced from the trio of authors selected by the technical jury chaired by Giancarlo Marinelli and composed of Manlio Celso Piva, Massimiliano Forza, Simona Nobili and Maria Grazia Tornisiello. A prize of 1.000 euros will be awarded to the first place, while the other two finalists will receive XNUMX euros each.

The challenge is between Helena Janeczek, with Il tempo degli imprevisti (Guanda, 2024), a work that explores the short century through a gallery of characters, intertwining their stories with the history of the twentieth century; Luca Ricci, with Gotico rosa (La nave di Teseo, 2024), focused on the passions and emotional nuances of the post-romantic era; and Michele Orti Manara, author of Cose da fare per farsi del male (Giulio Perrone Editore, 2024), a book in which the protagonists struggle with traumas, loneliness and relationships marked by profound conflicts.

"Friday will be an evening full of emotion and suspense. The winner of the Settembrini Award will be announced live by a jury of thirty readers, selected from Teatro Toniolo subscribers and Ca' Foscari University students, actively involving the audience. The union between culture and community is central to the spirit of the Settembrini, where the judgment of passionate readers becomes the voice of the community. A significant tribute to contemporary Italian literature and to the new talents that contribute to renewing the literary panorama of our country. The skill, style and intensity of the stories told by the selected finalists are tangible proof of the literary and cultural value of the Award”, he adds Armorers.

"The testamentary wishes of Arnaldo Settembrini, who in 1959 founded the Settembrini Prize in memory of his wife, the short story writer Leonilde Castellani Settembrini, have been honored with full respect and dedication. – continues the councilor -. Settembrini wanted the Veneto Region to safeguard and care for this authoritative recognition and in over sixty years of activity we can proudly say that, every year, the Award grows in prestige, attracting authors and readers, and helping to keep alive and dynamic an expressive form that has profoundly marked our cultural identity. We are truly happy to celebrate an event in which the Veneto Region strongly believes. These works, often underestimated, are a key to rediscovering and valorizing the short stories that tell the territories, identities and Italian traditions, true "places of the soul".

"It is not only a competition, but also a tribute to Italian storytelling, celebrating literature as a tool for exploration, reflection and connection with the world, through the evocative power of words. Good luck to all the finalists“, he concludes Councilor Corazzari.