Ceremony in which the international poetry chair of the CIS is dedicated to Spaziani and Bonnefoy

The National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria is a place of cultural memory: it preserves, cares for and develops the heritage of knowledge, traditions, arts, creativity, which through works, artifacts and testimonies have been handed down in Calabria since the times more ancient. And this wealth of heritage is a strategic resource for building a future of authentic civilization. In this perspective, the MArRC has activated a network of territorial collaborations for the valorisation of museums. The International Writers’ Center of Calabria stands out among the most fruitful partners.

With the sponsorship of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, the CIS promotes at MArRC, on Friday November 8th, at 5.00 pm, in the Conference Room, the Ceremony of Heading of the Chair of Poetry to Maria Luisa Spaziani (1922 – 2014) and Yves Bonnefoy ( 1923 – 2016).

Maria Luisa Spaziani has been a candidate for the Nobel Prize several times. She was a professor of French Language and Literature at the University of Messina and founder of the “Eugenio Montale” International Center with the Prize named after the great Ligurian poet, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975. Not still in her twenties, Spaziani directed the literary magazine “Il Girasole”, and then “Il Dado”, which hosted illustrious names in the national and international cultural scene, such as Umberto Saba, Sandro Penna and Virgilia Woolf. For over fifty years she was the author of the Mondadori publishing house. By the collection of poems “Geometry of Disorder” (1981) he obtained the Viareggio Prize. She was honorary president of the CIS.

A writer, poet and critic of French art, Yves Bonnefoy also carried out an intense activity as a translator, in particular of great authors of Anglo-Saxon literature and theater, including William Skakespear and John Keats. He was professor of comparative studies of the poetic function at the Collège de France. He has received numerous poetry awards, such as the prestigious Balzan, Grinzane Cavour and Franz Kafka.

The ceremony will take place in two sections.

The first is institutional greetings and motivations. Together with the director of the MArRC, Carmelo Malacrino, speakers will include: the rector of the University of Mediterranean Studies of Reggio Calabria, Santo Marcello Zambone and the director of the same University, Ottavio Amaro; professors Maria Gabriella Adamo, professor of French Linguistics at the University of Messina, and Daniele Cananzi, associate of philosophy of law at the University of Mediterranean Studies of Reggio Calabria; professors Paola Radici Colace, Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Messina, honorary president and scientific director of the CIS (who will read the motivation for Maria Luisa Spaziani) and Fabio Scotto, Professor of French Literature at the University of Bergamo (who will read the motivation for the poet Yves Bonnefoy).

The second part of the afternoon will be dedicated to entertainment, with the Recital “In body of voice”: reading-concert of poetry and songs on the guitar by professor Fabio Scotto.

Speakers include the scholar, musicologist and screenwriter Francesco Villari.

The meeting will be conducted and moderated by the founding president of the International Center of Writers of Calabria, Loreley Rosita Borruto, a poet recognized as one of the most prestigious representatives of contemporary culture, for over forty years engaged in literature and literary criticism, sociology, art , scientific, author on anthologies and magazines and winner of numerous awards. Among other things, she was a member of the Eugenio Montale International Center founded and chaired by Maria Luisa Speziani.