‘The great invasion’ arrives in Ivrea, Aosta and Chieri from 29 May to 2 June

During the days of the festival there will be dozens of guests present in all three cities. Among these Tiziano Scarpa, who reads some poems taken from the collection he translated, All day at the horse races and all night at the typewriter by Charles Bukowski; Benedetta Tobagi, who 80 years after the referendum which sanctioned the birth of the Republic in Italy, explains how the women’s vote on 2 June 1946 was achieved; Mauro Pescio who talks about Rodolfo Walsh and his masterpiece Operation Massacre, a book that revolutionized the way of reporting forever; Elena Varvello, who presents her latest novel La vita semper and Marco Rossari with the reading taken from his songbook L’amore in bianca. Dirty and melancholy songs.

Among the international guests of this edition, the Indonesian author Intan Paramaditha who in The Night of a Thousand Hells reveals how the scariest thing in life is not the ghosts that populate her works, but human prejudice, and Tommy Wieringa, one of the most intense and original voices of contemporary Dutch literature, who already in 2014 had attracted international attention with These Are the Names, finalist in the European Strega Prize and the Von Rezzori Prize, and winner of the Libris, the most high Dutch literary recognition. At the Invasion, Wieringa presents Nirvana, which between the crisis of capitalism, environmental devastation and Zen philosophy, reveals itself as a great novel about the inevitability of one’s family. The meeting takes place with the support of the Netherlands Letterenfonds and the Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Debuts section is back, a unique opportunity to meet some new names on the Italian literary scene and discover emerging talents. There will be Sofia Assante (My last story for you, Mondadori, novel winner of the Viareggio Opera Prima Prize 2025), Ilaria Camilletti (Ilaria in the jungle, Accent), Alessandra Leva (What the devil told me, effequ), Sonia Lisco (My nerves discovered, Racconti edizioni), Michela Panichi (La Cecilia, nottetempo, finalist in the XXXVII edition of the Italo Calvino Award) and Leonardo San Pietro (Party with cassowary, Sellerio). The meetings are held as part of the SIAE project – For those who create.

In Ivrea there are more than one hundred and fifty events scheduled, with authors who will be in the city to tell their latest novel, such as Andrea Esposito (Innocenza), Antonella Lattanzi (Chiara), Vittorio Lingiardi (Getting hurt), Valeria Parrella (The little girl), Veronica Raimo (Don’t write about me), Chiara Tagliaferri (Arkansas), Dario Voltolini (The bush).

There will also be space for current affairs, with the meeting From North Korea to Cuba: Small atlas of disability in which Carla Vitantonio talks about stories of crisis, rights and real inclusion and The American mirror. China’s gaze on the United States, with Simone Pieranni. Telling the story of the war is the title of the meeting with Francesca Mannocchi at the Giacosa Theatre. Guido Saracco presents Digital Allies. Our personal AI. Vasco Brondi talks with Sabrina Efionayi starting from her book A spiritual thing, a vision on how to make art in the times of materialism. Stories of sport and life mix in meetings with Mauro Berruto, Sport between war, peace and geopolitics. From the Iliad to Donald Trump and in the one with Julio Gonzales Ferreira, Vivo, which tells the story of the Paraguayan forward, a promising player in international football.

Two events dedicated to podcasts will be presented: Radio Alice, voices and stories from ’77 by Maria Antonietta Giudicissi and The Pirate Child by Gian Luca Favetto, both produced by RaiPlay Sound. We continue listening with the reading by Gianni Montieri Non era un monstro strange and in the meeting dedicated to music When even a song is “Immensità”, with Andrea Laszlo De Simone.

There are six exhibitions that will remain open for the entire duration of the festival: Lines without borders. Posters, objects and traces of a practice in continuous movement by John Blond (finissage by Spritz), Nel Discanto by Francesco Chiacchio (Galleria del Libro), It Could Also Be by Joey Guidone (Graphic Fighters, organized by Warde), Stanze Abyssali by Marco Cazzato (MamaB), The Enchanted Bus by Majid Bita (Santa Marta, in collaboration with Canicola) and Drawings of the Third Kind by Fausto Gilberti, author of the official image of the Great Invasion 2026 (Garda Civic Museum; organized in collaboration with the City of Ivrea, the works will be exhibited until 27 September). At the same time as the exhibition, a live painting by Bita is scheduled in Santa Marta during Blak Saagan’s concert A 10,000 year long kidnapping.

On Saturday 30th at 3pm, before starting the various exhibitions, the meeting is in Piazzale Bastioni to inaugurate the crossing of the walls along the Castle alley, in the presence of the institutions and the architect Francesco Bermond Des Ambrois.

The days of the festival open with the press review by Nicoli Ghittoni, journalist of the Post, and end late with the BB Show and the interviews of Matteo B. Bianchi, who will have as guests on the first evening Antonio Marras and Patrizia Sardo Marras and the following day the Jean Claude of Sensualità a corte, the actor Marcello Cesena. Also scheduled to return is the beloved format My Cousin, in which the public is asked to guess which stories are true and which are invented, and Half an hour of stand up with Ghemon.

The lessons are conducted by 19 guests and divided into 4 different strands: Music, Travelling, Ideas and Words and Passions, with Viola Ardone, Maurizio Blatto, Claudio Bovo, Daniele Cassandro, Marta Ciccolari Micaldi, Giuseppe Civati, Paola De Angelis, Fabrizio Gabrielli, Alessandro Giraudo, Stefano Liberti, Matteo Miavaldi, Gianni Montieri, Giorgio Moretti, Matteo Nucci, Norberto Patrignani, Matteo Saudino, Chiara Tagliaferri, Alessio Torino, Carla Vitantonio.