Top Italian novelist Sandro Veronesi
said Wednesday that he will not be part of the Italian
delegation at October's Frankfurt Book Fair, where Italy is this
year's guest of honour, after left-leaning author and government
critic Roberto Saviano was excluded.
The government's pointman for the event, conservative journalist
Mauro Mazza, said Tuesday that it was not a question of
discrimination that Saviano did not feature on the list of 100
Italian authors attending the Buchmesse, but a desire to "give
space to authors who have not had it in the past".
"The stupid, ridiculous reasons with which Commissioner Mazza
justified Roberto Saviano's exclusion do not allow me to accept
the invitation I received," said Veronesi, a two-time winner of
Italy's top literary award, the Strega Prize.
"This interference by the premier and her most trusted aides on
decisions that should not be based on political logic continues,
accompanied by 'Putinian hypocrisy'.
"If it is necessary for work reasons, I will go to Frankfurt as
a private individual".
Gomorrah author Saviano had a show on the mafia pulled by state
broadcaster Rai after Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing
government took office in autumn 2022.
Saviano has had to go into police protection after Camorra death
threats after his 2006 bestseller Gomorra, which later spawned a
Cannes award winning film and a hit TV series.
He was successfully sued by Meloni for calling her a "bastard"
over migrant children's deaths amid her fierce anti-migrant
rhetoric while in opposition in 2020.
Saviano reacted to his exclusion Wednesday by writing on
Instagram: "The most ignorant government in the history of
Italy. Proud not to be on the Mazza list".
The Italian Association of Publishers (AIE) said that it had
itself drawn up the list, not Mazza, and that it would "never
accept outside interference of any kind".
It said Saviano's name had not been among those proposed to it.
Great Anglo-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie said at the recent
Turin Book Fair that Meloni should be "less childish" over her
slander case against Saviano, a personal friend of his, advising
the premier to "grow up".
Rushdie, one of the stars of the fair with his harrowing
near-fatal real-life New York attack story Knife, said "I heard
about the dispute between Ms Meloni and Roberto Saviano.
"At my personal risk I have to say that politicians should grow
a thicker skin because a politician today, as well as having
great power, also has great authority.
"So it is normal that some of the people should speak about them
directly, even badly, also using a bad word like the one Roberto
used.
"I would give this lady a piece of advice, to be less childish
and to grow up".
Saviano was fined a "symbolic" 1,000 euros in October for
calling Meloni and her ally, then hardline anti-migrant interior
minister Matteo Salvini, "bastards" on Italian TV after a little
girl died in a failed sea rescue in the Mediterranean, and the
premier is still pursuing the case.
The writer also faces a separate trial for having called Salvini
the "minister of the underworld" on another occasion.
Press freedom groups have criticized the Saviano trial and the
fact that defamation is a criminal offence in Italy.
When he called the two politicians "bastards", Saviano referred
to their previous statements criticizing NGO rescue ships as
"sea taxis" and "cruise ships".
When he was fined, Saviano said "amid the absurdity of being
taken to trial by the premier for having criticized her, there
is no greater honour for a writer than to see their words scare
such a mendacious power.
"When it is asked, one day, how it was possible to let all these
people die at sea, my name will not be among the accomplices".
The judge recognised extenuating circumstances including
"acting for reasons of particular moral value" and ruled that
the penalty would be suspended and Saviano's record left clean.
Saviano appealed to get a full acquittal, spurring Meloni's
countersuit.
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