Calendar

In keeping with tradition, the festival opens with a conversation with the featured author, conducted this year by the writer Andrea Bajani, who will introduce the public to Mathias Énard and his variegated cultural universe.
Further detailed information will appear in the monograph accompanying the festival: an interview with the author by Andrea Bajani, contributions by Lorenzo Alunni and Yasmina Melaouah and an unpublished text by Mathias Énard for Dedica.

The Dedica a Mathias Énard publication, edited by Claudio Cattaruzza, is on sale during the event or on this website shop.

Andrea Bajani
Andrea Bajani was born in Rome in 1975. A novelist and a poet, he has authored amongst others the novels Cordiali saluti (2005), Se consideri le colpe (2007 and 2021: Super Mondello, Brancati, Recanati and Lo Straniero Prizes), Ogni promessa (2010 and 2021: Bagutta Prize), and Promemoria (2017) and Dimora naturale (2020) books of poems published by Einaudi. With Feltrinelli he has published Mi riconosci (2013), La gentile clientela (2013) and Il libro delle case (2021, a finalist for the Strega Prize and the Premio Campiello). His books have been translated in 17 countries.
He is currently Writer in Residence at Rice University Houston, Texas.

PRESENTATION OF THE CITY SEAL TO MATHIAS ÉNARD
Official ceremony

In an official ceremony, the protagonist of Dedica 2022 receives the Seal of the City of Pordenone, a prestigious award conferred on “persons recognized for their extraordinary social, cultural and political achievements”.
Internationally-acclaimed personages awarded the City Seal during previous Dedica festivals include Amin Maalouf, Vassilis Vassilikos, Assja Djebar, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Anita Desai, Amos Oz, Nadine Gordimer, Paul Auster, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Cees Nooteboom, Wole Soyinka, Javier Cercas, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Luis Sepúlveda, Yasmina Khadra, Björn Larsson, Atiq Rahimi, Gioconda Belli, Paolo Rumiz.

The City Seal
Features an open door showing the river Noncello, with twin golden crowns overlooking it. The door symbolises the town’s importance as a harbour that guaranteed connection and trade with Venice and the Adriatic sea. The twin golden crowns point at the total judiciary sovereignty of the town.
The open door has now become the symbol of an open-minded town, eager to take part to cultural exchanges with the consideration and curiosity that every citizen must possess when approaching different cultures.