Michele Ruol with “Inventory of what remains after the forest burns” (TerraRossa) is the winner of the 31st edition of the «Giuseppe Berto» Literary Award. The award ceremony of the competition – conceived and founded by Cesare De Michelis in 1988 to remember the name and work of Giuseppe Berto, remaining faithful to the will of the great Venetian writer who had always fought to support young talents – took place in Calabria, in Capo Vaticano where the Venetian writer wrote some of his greatest masterpieces, in an evening event presented by the journalist Giancarlo Loquenzi, accompanied by Emanuele Trevi, president of the Jury, as part of the Estate a casa Berto festival.
The Award enjoys an alternation of locations between Mogliano Veneto (Treviso), where Berto was born and Ricadi (Vibo Valentia), where he lived and rests todaya sign of a renewed synergy between the two places to which Berto always remained tied.
“”Inventory of what remains after the forest burns” by Michele Ruol – it is written in the reasons for awarding the recognition – is a ferocious and mysterious book that page after page, detail after detail, tells the story of the human in his relationship with misfortune, reminding us in a merciless way how fragile and transitory are the meanings we attribute to life”.
The award was presented to Ruol by writer and juror Elena Stancanelli who in 1999, at her debut, won the Berto with the novel Benzina (Einaudi) which was later made into a film directed by Monica Stambrini. The jury also includes Silvia Avallone; Luigi Mascheroni and Emanuele Zinato.
Present at the ceremony were the mayors Nicola Tripodi (Ricadi), Davide Bortolato (Mogliano Veneto), Giorgio Copparoni, deputy mayor and councilor for Culture of Mogliano; Diego Bottaccin, president of the Berto Association; Antonia Berto, daughter of the writer and co-director of Estate a casa Berto and the actress Anna Ammirati.
The other four finalists were Andrea Bazzanini, The Last Season (Oligo); Fiammetta Palpati, The House of the White Orphans (Laurana Editore); Giulio Spagnol, Charlie Cannonball (Mondadori); Samuele Cornalba, Bagai (Einaudi). The Berto Award is promoted by the cultural association of the same name in collaboration with the municipalities of Mogliano Veneto and Ricadi, and with the financial support of Distillerie Caffo, producer of Amaro del Capo.