Ferrante Fever

Public literary event on the global success of the Neapolitan writer Elena Ferrante 'Ferrante Fever goes something like this: You pick up one of Elena Ferrante's books because a friend told you that you had to read it. You read a few pages, and then before you know it, it's 3:00 o'clock in the morning, you've finished the book, and you're on the hunt for the other three titles in the Neapolitan series' Elena Ferrante's novels are published in 39 countries, and have sold one million of copies in the US and more than 300,000 in Britain. Her The Story of the Lost Child was in the shortlist for this year's Man Booker International Prize and for the Best Translated Book Award 2016. She has recently been named one of Time's 100 most influential people of the year. The best selling Italian writer has decided to remain anonymous; a choice that has stirred much attention from the public and has put readers and professionals from the cultural industries at centre stage. This event aims to capture this shift and to discuss Ferrante’s global success in dialogue with the protagonists of the cultural market (translators, publishers, festival organisers, journalists and scholars of literature) and the many readers and fans. The event will be held at the University of Leeds and will take the form of a public debate. After a brief introduction by the organizers, the event will start with readings of Ferrante’s work by her translator to English, Ann Goldstein. A series of brief talks (5-10 minutes) by an international panel of professionals will then be followed by a Q&A session open to the audience. The panellists are: Ann Goldstein, a New Yorker editor and translator, who, after translating works by Elena Ferrante, has become a rare celebrity among translators ('Ann Goldstein: A Star Italian Translator', The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/ann-goldstein-a-star-italian-translator-1453310727 ) Daniela Petracco, director of Europa Editions (UK publisher of Ferrante) Thea Lenarduzzi, Times Literary Supplement (writer, commissioning editor and author of the article and blog '”Ferrante Fever” and other symptoms', TLS, 15 June 2015); Tiziana de Rogatis, Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Università per Stranieri di Siena, co-director of the Altre Italie Festival, and author of several articles in English and Italian on Ferrante and her global success.