To mark its 60th anniversary, Lucca Comics & Games is taking fiction to a new venue: the Luigi Boccherini Conservatoire of Music, which is featured in the festival programme for the first time. This is where the ‘Incontri al tramonto’ (Sunset Encounters) will take place – three aperitif events dedicated to fantasy, creatures and passion; the ‘Arcimago Prize’ for unpublished Italian fantasy novels will return, with writer and screenwriter Manlio Castagna announcing the 100 projects shortlisted for the second round; and the “Concerto in Arte” will celebrate illustrator Paolo Barbieri’s thirty-year career alongside music from the Conservatoire. Within the same setting, “Lucca60Love” will take place – a day on Sunday 1 November dedicated to romance, ranging from contemporary to queer romance, and from romantasy to dark romance.
A NEW MONOGRAPHIC PAVILION AND THE ARRIVAL OF TASCHEN
The festival’s publishing landscape will also expand. Piazza Antelminelli will host the new Mondadori Group pavilion, the first space at Lucca Comics & Games dedicated to a major publishing group capable of bringing together different brands, genres and audiences; whilst the San Martino Pavilion will, for the first time, host TASCHEN, which for over forty-five years has been one of the international benchmarks in illustrated books.
MAJOR INTERNATIONAL AND ITALIAN NAMES
Among the major international guests, Mercurio Books will bring to Lucca the American writer Christopher Buehlman, author of the cult medieval horror novel Between Two Fires. L’Ippocampo Edizioni will be joined by graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, founders of the MinaLima studio, with their MinaLima Classics series; French illustrator Frédéric Pillot; Benjamin Lacombe, illustrator and art director; and Stan Manoukian, illustrator and author, on a journey spanning classics, monsters and fantastical imagery. Il Castoro OFF will bring Chris Riddell, a British illustrator and political cartoonist, back to Lucca. Representing Italy, on 31 October, science communicator and writer Alberto Angela will also be making his first appearance at the festival, one of this year’s major Italian guests; but the festival will also feature the ‘queen of romance’ Rokia, representing Magazzini Salani with Dangerous Love, and the writers Hazel Riley and Stefania S. for Sperling & Kupfer. Audible will present its original production of Dracula, featuring the voices of Riccardo Scamarcio and Benedetta Porcaroli.
LUCCA60: SPECIAL EDITIONS AND LIMITED RUNS
The 60th anniversary of Lucca Comics & Games will also be marked by books and projects created specifically for the festival. Tora Edizioni will publish What to Do in Lucca When You’re Dead, the official choose-your-own-adventure book for Lucca Comics & Games, written by Mauro Longo, illustrated by Alessandro Pietramolla and with a cover by illustrator Alberto Dal Lago; with Solum Ego, illustrated by Cristina Calvagno, the writer Licia Troisi will make her debut in the world of gamebooks, also in an exclusive limited-edition box set illustrated by Alberto Dal Lago. Mondadori will release a limited edition of The Reaping by Suzanne Collins with a cover by the illustrator Quasirosso, whilst Giunti Editore will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Hyperversum by Cecilia Randall with a collector’s edition featuring a new chapter, a d20 die and a sticker, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of W.I.T.C.H. with 250 copies of Il cuore solo sa in an exclusive variant cover, signed by the actress Lodovica Comello.
PLENTY OF EVENTS SPANNING ROMANCE, FANTASY AND OTHER LITERARY GENRES
There is also a wide range of other events on offer: amongst many others, Longanesi will host the writer Alessia Gazzola with an exclusive preview of Miss Bee & l’inganno in prima classe; Newton Compton will host the writer Francesca Tamburini; Giunti will present the author, content creator and actress Eleonora Gaggero with her dystopian novel Anomaly. The Boccherini venue will also host the writer Paola Barbato, the editor and writer Gisella Laterza, Licia Troisi, the writers Daniele Nicastro and Massimo Vitali, and the comic-book artist Gud, with talks and stories centred on choices; whilst the Italian Association for Tolkien Studies will return to Middle-earth with the scholar, essayist and translator Paolo Nardi and the fashion historian Erica Martin, exploring cultural heritage and visual imagery.
