Hodges Figgis will host a special literary evening marking the launch of the English translation of The Celestial City by acclaimed Italian author Diego Marani, alongside Wild Iris by Ruth McKee.
A leading voice in contemporary European literature, Diego Marani will be introduced by Dedalus publisher Eric Lane. The event is supported by the Italian Institute of Culture.
Ruth McKee will also take part in the evening in conversation, introduced by Eoghan Smith, editor of Dedalus Ireland, offering an additional Irish perspective to this engaging literary event.
Free admission.
Diego Marani was born in Ferrara and trained as an interpreter at the University of Trieste before working first for the European Union’s Council of Ministers and then the European Commission, where he has specialised in multilingualism and support for literary translation. He was advisor to the Italian Minister of Cultura during the Italian Presidency of the European Union in 2014 and from 2015 to 2021 he worked at the European Union’s External Action as coordinator of EU cultural policy.
Diego Marani is also the author of numerous books and essays. He was awarded the Grinzane-Cavour literary prize for his novel Nuova grammatica finlandese, which has been translated into fifteen different languages, including English (New Finnish Grammar). L’ultimo dei Vostiachi (The Last of the Vostiaks) was shortlisted for the Premio Campiello and won the Premio Stresa.
His latest book, La città celeste, was published in 2021 by La Nave di Teseo. Diego Marani is also the inventor of Europanto, the mock language in which he has written hundreds of articles for several European newspapers and also published a series of short stories, Las adventuras des Inspector Cabillot.