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As is tradition, the festival is opened by a conversation with the featured author. In dialogue with him will be literary critic and writer Alessandro Zaccuri, who will introduce the audience to Kader Abdolah and his variegated literary universe.
Additional insights and unpublished content can be found in the monograph accompanying the festival. These include an interview with the writer conducted by Alessandro Zaccuri, a text by translator Elisabetta Svaluto Moreolo and two writings by Kader Abdolah published for the first time in Italy.
The monograph volume Dedica a Kader Abdolah, edited by Claudio Cattaruzza, is on sale (€10.00) during the event or on this website.

Alessandro Zaccuri
He was born in La Spezia in 1963, lives in Milan and is in charge of Communication at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. He writes fiction and is an essayist and literary critic for the daily newspaper “Avvenire”. His most recent books include Nel nome (2019), La quercia di Bruegel (2021), Poco a me stesso (2022), Preghiera e letteratura (2024). His novel Le ombre will be published in spring 2025 by Marsilio.

PRESENTATION OF THE CITY SEAL TO KADER ABDOLAH
Official ceremony

In an official ceremony, the protagonist of Dedica 2025 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, Mathias Énard, Maylis de Kerangal and Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

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.