Writer Burham Sonmez: ‘Words scare regimes’

“The regimes – underlined Sönmez while meeting the press in Lignano Sabbiadoro – try to attack memory, history, free thought and even our ability to be happy in an autonomous way. Literature preserves the stories that power would like to erase and reminds us that we can be free and independent precisely through the beauty of words and art”.

Esteemed Senior Member at the University of Cambridge, president of PEN International since 2021 and considered one of the reference figures of contemporary fiction, Burhan Sönmez will present his latest novel, “The lovers of Franz K” (Nottetempo 2025), in dialogue with Michela Fregona, tomorrow, Saturday 27 June, at 11.00 am, at the Cinecity in Lignano Sabbiadoro. And in the evening, he will participate in the culminating moment of the Hemingway Award, promoted by the Municipality of Lignano Sabbiadoro with the support of the Departments of Culture, Productive Activities and Tourism of the autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, through the consolidated collaboration with the Pordenonelegge.it Foundation. Appointment at 8.45pm at Cinecity, when the curtain will rise on the 2026 Awards Ceremony: the event, a talk in the name of the bond between Ernest Hemingway and Lignano that blossomed in 1954, will be hosted by the television journalist Monica Giandotti. On the stage, alongside the winners of this edition – Niccolò Ammaniti, Burhan Sönmez, Giada Messetti and Paolo Crepet, with a video greeting from Paolo Gasparini – will be present the Prize Jury led by president Alberto Garlini with Gian Mario Villalta, artistic director of pordenonelegge, and the photography historian Italo Zannier.