Verso Incroci
Preview of Crossroads of Civilizations 2025

Giovanni Montanaro (Venice, 1983) is a writer and lawyer. He made his debut with the novel La Croce Honninfjord (Marsilio, 2007), which received a special mention in 2006 at the 19th edition of the Premio Italo Calvino. In 2008 he was selected for the Scritture Giovani project at the Mantua Festivaletteratura.

He subsequently published Le conseguenze(Marsilio, 2009) and Tutti i colori del mondo (Feltrinelli, 2012), which was shortlisted for the Premio Campiello. Later came Tommaso sa le stelle (Feltrinelli, 2014), Guardami negli occhi (Feltrinelli, 2017), Le ultime lezioni (Feltrinelli, 2019), Il libraio di Venezia (Feltrinelli, 2020) and Come una Sirena (Feltrinelli, 2023).

Pietro Sequi, who earned his Engineering degree in 1971, has authored numerous articles on aerospace engineering. Since 1992, he has been an Expert in International Industrial Cooperation, evaluating funding applications for projects in Eastern Europe and the Far East. He has resided in Vietnam since 1997, where he managed projects within the Italian bilateral and multilateral Development Cooperation Programme. For fifteen years, he was the Director of the Local Technical Office in Hanoi, gaining extensive insight into Vietnam’s social and administrative culture, as well as a deep understanding of the Vietnamese people’s mindset, customs, and interpersonal relations.

Maria Chiara Arese, born in Milan in 1953, graduated in History of Art from the University of Milan with a thesis on the Secular Cycle of the Roccabianca Frescoes. She left Milan in the 1980s for Los Angeles, where for fifteen years she worked at the J. Paul Getty Museum as Assistant Curator in the Department of European Paintings. In 1993 she published the correspondence between Vassily Kandinsky and Giovan Antonio Colonna di Cesarò in Kandinsky between East and West. Masterpieces from Russian Museums (Artificio, 1993). Since the summer of 1997 she has devoted herself full-time to humanitarian work in Vietnam.

Sorj Chalandon was born in Tunis in 1952. His original name was Georges, but he later adopted Sorj, the name his grandmother used to call him. After a difficult childhood in a troubled family in Lyon, he chose to leave home and moved to Paris, where, despite many challenges, he started to cultivate his passion for writing.
In 1973, he began working for Libération, where he held various positions before becoming a reporter. In this role, he covered numerous international conflicts and several high-profile court cases. For his reporting on Northern Ireland and on the trial of the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, he was awarded the prestigious Prix Albert-Londres for journalism in 1988. In 2007, he left Libération and started teaching at the Paris Centre de Formation des Journalistes. In 2009, he joined the editorial team of the weekly Le Canard enchaîné, a collaboration that continues to this day.
He made his fiction debut in 2005 with the novel Le Petit Bonzi, which was well received by critics and readers. In 2006, he published Une promesse, which earned the Prix Médicis. His literary works include many novels, some of which have been adapted into films, theatre, comics, and graphic novels. Several of his books have been published in Italy, while Return to Killybegs, My Traitor and (soon to be released) The Fourth Wall are available in English. His publications in multiple languages have garnered awards such as the Grand Prix du Roman de l’Académie Française, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, the International Tiziano Terzani Literary Prize, and the Prix Eugène-Dabit du roman populiste.

Ece Temelkuran is a Turkish writer, journalist, and political commentator. She has nearly three million followers on social media, and her articles have been translated and featured in outlets such as “The Guardian”, “The New York Times”, “Le Monde”, “La Stampa”, “New Statesman”, and “Der Spiegel”. She also contributes to “Internazionale”. Currently residing in Berlin, she has been unable to return to Turkey since 2016 due to her political views.
Temelkuran holds a law degree and is the prolific author of novels and non-fiction books, many of which have been published in several languages, including Italian and English. In 2024, How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Fascism was published in by Canongate Canons, Together: A Manifesto Against a Heartless World came out in 2025 and Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century is just out. La fiducia e la dignità. Dieci scelte urgenti per un presente migliore (2021) was shortlisted for the Premio Terzani 2022.

Marcelo Rubens Paiva (São Paulo, 1959) is a writer, playwright and screenwriter. Among his best-known works are the novels Feliz Ano Velho (Happy Old Year, 1982) and Blecaute (1986). His writing tackles themes of notable social and personal importance, establishing him as a prominent figure in contemporary Brazilian literature. He has received several major awards, such as the prestigious Academia Brasileira de Letras Prize for the screenplay of Malu de bicicleta (2004), the Jabuti Prize for Literature three times, and the Shell Theatre Prize for the play Da boca pra fora (1999). Additionally, the film I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui), adapted from the book of the same name and directed by Walter Salles, won Best Screenplay at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

Marta Pérez-Carbonell (1982) teaches Spanish literature at Colgate University, New York. She holds degrees in English and Spanish Philology and completed a PhD on the work of Javier Marías. She contributes to several literary journals and focuses primarily on contemporary Spanish cultural production. Her research examines novels and short fiction using a range of methodological approaches, including material culture studies, affect theory and urban studies. In 2020 she was named “Professor of the Year” by the national collegiate honour society Phi Eta Sigma.
I Made You Up Inside My Head (Nada mas ilusorio, 2024) is her debut novel and is being translated into ten countries.