The Witch Prize announced today, from the Roman Theater of Benevento, the result of the first vote which anointed the finalists:
- Donatella Di Pietrantonio, The fragile age (Einaudi), 248 votes
- Dario Voltolini, Winter (The Ship of Theseus), 243 votes
- Chiara Valerio, Who says and who is silent (Sellerio), 213 votes
- Paolo Di Paolo, Novel without humans (Feltrinelli), 195 votes
- Raffaella Romagnolo, Fixing the universe (Mondadori), 193 votes
- Tommaso Giartosio, Autobiogrammatics (minimum fax), 126 votes
The second vote and the finalist candidates
As a note explains, six books are eligible for the second vote instead of five, according to the art. 7 of the voting regulations: if the ranking of the top five does not include at least one book published by a medium-small publisher, the one with the highest score advances to the second vote, giving rise to a final with six candidates.
The preferences expressed
626 out of 700 voters expressed their preferences, between individual votes and collective votes (equal to 89% of those entitled):
- 400 Sunday friends
- 245 votes expressed by Italian and foreign scholars, translators and intellectuals selected by 35 Italian cultural institutes abroad
- 30 strong readers chosen from the world of professions and entrepreneurship
- 25 collective votes expressed by schools, universities and reading groups, including the clubs set up at the Libraries of Rome
Ratings of the other books in the competition
These are the votes obtained by the other books in the competition:
- Antonella Lattanzi, Things that aren't told (Einaudi), 153 votes
- Daniele Rielli, The invisible fire. Human story of a natural disaster (Rizzoli), 146 votes
- Adrian N. Well done, Adelaida (Nutritions), 116 votes
- Valentina Mira, On the same side you will find me (SEM), 101 votes
- Melissa Panarello, History of my money (Bompiani), 79 votes
- Sonia Aggio, In the emperor's room (Fazi), 65 votes
Final event and live television
The election of the winning book will take place on Thursday 4 July at National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome and will be broadcast live on Rai Tre. The finalists of the LXXVIII edition will meet the public in 19 stages, including one abroad, on 11 June, at the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels.
Organization of the Benevento evening
The evening in Benevento was organized by City of Benevento with Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation And Strega Liqueurwho promote the Award with the support of Roma Capitale, the Rome Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with BPER Banca, Rai media partner, technical sponsors Feltrinelli Bookshops And SYGLA.