Polignano and Vieste, the Festival of the Possible Book ready to welcome 250 guests from 9 to 26 July

"Create a constructive, free, democratic, multi-voiced cultural dialogue." In a place - Puglia - that until 24 years ago was not so much a cultural destination as a food and wine and landscape destination. This is the goal - in the words of its artistic director, Rosella Santoro - that for almost a quarter of a century has guided the Festival del Libro Possibile, in Polignano a Mare from July 9 to 12 and in Vieste from July 22 to 26.

This year, 250 authors, journalists, scientists, artists, magistrates, philosophers, entrepreneurs, singer-songwriters, and institutional representatives will be in dialogue in the squares. Characters of all kinds, from the Iranian writer Azar Nafisi and the Palestinian author Alae Al Said to the science communicator Barbara Gallavotti. The common theme: Viva la vida, like the Coldplay song, but first and foremost like Frida Kahlo's last painting. A hymn that contrasts with the challenges of a critical, frightening present, and invites all participants to take on a "reversed perspective" - ​​as the director defines it - in talking about contemporary problems. Addressing the issue, yes, but also developing a collective response.

In short, the theme is proposed as "an action of resistance" against the usual (depressing) ways of thinking, which acts as a guide for the youngest. Behind the festival there is a machine of students from first grade to high school, directly involved in the organization and choice of topics and authors. Scrolling through the names, Elisa True Crime and Gio Evan come out, who the new generations really like. The kids "don't feel mistreated if they have different cultural tastes from ours - explains Santoro, who is also a teacher -. We accept each other and only in this way can we create collaboration and openness. Two years ago in a first year of high school I found in the girls a great passion for romance. I didn't even know what it was. It was a moment of rapprochement for me. There is openness on both sides, curiosity". In addition to the usual meeting with the winner of the 2025 Strega Prize (and other finalists), there will be the lectio magistralis by Massimo Cacciari, Umberto Galimberti, Stefano Mancuso and Massimo Recalcati. Chiara Tramontano, Giulia's sister, will touch on the topics of women and rights. Ermal Meta will hold an exclusive mini live, while Dario Vergassola will return with his 'impossible interviews'. We will talk about economics and entrepreneurship with - among many - Carlo Cottarelli, Elsa Fornero and the influencer Aminata Gabriella Fall. There will be space to talk about legality with Pietro Grasso, Raffaele Cantone, Nicola Gratteri and Lirio Abbate. To close the festival, Drusilla Foer will bring her 'Parla con Dru - Chiacchiere e canzonì to Vieste. So in a region that, like the whole of the South, has low reading rates, since 2001 an opportunity has been created to come into "contact with realities that are unknown - he continues -. The kids, like everyone else, accept some, reject others, and rebel against others. The formation of critical thinking is only achieved in this way". And the possibility of listening to diametrically opposed thoughts there will be some, including Italo Bocchino, Giuseppe Cruciani, Sigfrido Ranucci and Ilaria Salis, just to name a few.

Jonathan Coe will also be there, already a protagonist of the London stage of Libro Possibile, in March during the London Book Fair. «There has always been the intention to internationalize - comments Santoro -, first with international authors, then with this project. So we also gave our authors the opportunity to make themselves known and create collaborations»