First Ever "The Bridge" Prize in Fiction Awarded to Domenico Starnone

Domenico Starnone has been awarded the first ever "The Bridge" book prize for his novel Lacci, to be published in the United States by Europa Editions in 2017. The award was presented to Starnone at the American Embassy in Rome in presence of the the U.S. Ambassador to the Italian Republic John R. Phillips and representatives of Italian Institutions.

A second award ceremony will take place in the United States on October 19th at the Italian Embassy, in Washington, DC, followed by a round table discussion with the winners and other members of the literary community. The Italian winners will then be received at Calandra Institute and at the Italian Culture Institute in NY.

“The Bridge” Book Award is aimed at reinforcing the mutual understanding between Italy and the USA by exposing the reading public to the best works of fiction and nonfiction recently released in the two countries. The Award is meant to be a “bridge” that connects two cultures. As such, it is awarded to Italian and American authors in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. 

The sponsors, organizers and administrators of the Award are: Casa delle Letterature of the Rome Municipality (founder and curator of the two sections, and sponsor of the fiction category for the American section); the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF, main sponsor of the nonfiction category for the American), the American Embassy in Rome (main sponsor of both the fiction and nonfiction categories for the Italian section), and the American Initiative for Italian Culture (AIFIC, sponsor and administrator in the USA) and FUIS organization, Federazione Unitaria Scrittori Italiani. The Book Award “The Bridge” collaborates with the Embassy of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, the American Academy in Rome, the Calandra Institute in New York, and the Italian Cultural Institute in New York.