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Stars show support for book prize
A host of famous names from Scotland’s arts scene have taken to the red carpet to launch a new literary prize.
Actress Daniela Nardini, Bafta-winning film director Annie Griffin and crime author Denise Mina are among those who attended the launch of the Edinburgh Gadda Prize.
The award celebrates the work of the acclaimed Italian writer Carlo Emilio Gadda.
Modernist writer
The prize, backed by Italian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, has been created to spread awareness of Gadda, who is considered to be Italy's greatest modernist writer.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh hosted a series of events to celebrate the launch of the prize.
The award is open to scholars and school pupils, who were invited to submit a piece of written work that reflects the work of Gadda.
Winners of the four categories, judged by scholars from universities across Italy and the UK were announced in an Italian-themed event.
Italian-themed event
Daniela Nardini, Annie Griffin and Denise Mina met the 12 semi-finalists in the junior category of the prize.
The semi-finalists, aged 13 to 14, entered short crime stories which had to be set in Rome.
The red carpet event was organised with the backing of international publishers, universities and the Scots-Italian community.
Promoting new talent
Prizes are being awarded in the four categories of: best published scholarly work on Gadda; best early scholarly work on Gadda; best published scholarly work on 20th century Italian fiction; and best junior detective fiction.
This has been an amazing collaboration between the community, academic institutions, and show business personalities. Through the prize we aim to build a platform to recognise scholarly brilliance in Gadda studies while also promoting young creative Scottish talent.
Federica Pedriali
Professor of Modern Italian Studies
This article was published on Jul 6, 2010