The Turin International Book Fair (Salone del Libro di Torino) is the largest trade fair for books in Italy, held every year in mid-May at the Lingotto Fiere convention center. This year, its 30th anniversary, the Fair took place between 18th and 22nd May and proved to be a huge success, involving more than 165,000 visitors, 1,060 Publishers and 1,200 related events (seminars, conferences and so on).
AIST was at the exhibition with its own stand, displaying the usual vast array of books by and about Tolkien and arousing much curiosity while attracting a large number of visitors.
The AIST flagship at the event, however, was the speech given by Wu Ming 4 (renowned writer and AIST founding member) about the female characters in Tolkien’s works, with an introduction by AIST President R. Arduini. The lecture was held on Saturday 20th May in front of a vast audience (350+ people), just ten days before the publication of the much awaited ‘Beren and Luthien’.
There were also other AIST related activities: a concert with LotR-inspired music played by A. Stalteri and F. Torbidoni, an exhibition displaying the illustrations from the ‘Lords for the Ring 2017’ Calendar, and two more lectures about Tolkien in an off-site location (Mufant, museum of Fantasy and Sci-fi) by AIST members S. Giorgianni and B. Sanguineti.
