To its fifth edition, the Demetra Prize Confirms his vocation: stimulating an informed and engaging public debate on environmental issues, through narratives. Promoted by Comieco In collaboration with Elba Book Festivalthe recognition has rewarded five works capable of dealing with climate change, environmental injustice and ecological transition with different but converging approaches in substance: make the urgency of the crisis understandable And offer cultural tools to face it.
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The award ceremony was held in Rio in Elba on July 18, in the Elba Book Festival literary event. The winning works were selected by a jury made up of personalities from the scientific, editorial and cultural world, and also evaluated by groups of unconventional readers such as students and prisoners.
The bugie on the climate and the need for truth
The non -fiction prize went to He always did hot! And other comfortable lies on climate change Of Giulio Betti (Aboca), a work that dismantles with scientific rigor but accessible tone many of the common negationist places. Betti returns to the reader “The tools to distinguish reality from disinformation” and face the climatic crisis with awareness, underlining how scientific truth is often manipulated or ignored for economic or ideological convenience.
Extreme fires and new geography of the planet
In the section dedicated to the foreign non -fiction translated into Italian, the prize was awarded to The age of fire Of John Vaillant (Hyperborea). A book that moves between science, history and geopolitics, telling the escalation of forest fires globally as a direct effect of climatic warming. Vaillant documents how fires are no longer exceptional events, but systemic phenomena that are rewriting the planet’s physical and political maps.
Oil, community and awakening of consciousness
To win in the narrative section was For the last drop Of Piero Malenotti (Sensitive to leaves), the debut novel that unpublished the relationship between development and environmental destruction in an unprecedented way. Set in an imaginary city of North Africa, El Amal, the novel follows the path of Valerio Lupi, mining engineer called to direct an offshore oil mission. The meeting with the local community leads the protagonist to question the foundations of his work.
The climatic crisis told to the youngest
Animals Of Walter Obert (Sabir Editore) Awarded the prize for the Book Books Section. It is a contemporary fairy tale that invites young readers (and not only) to observe the animal world with curiosity and respect. A work that stimulates empathy towards every form of ecological life and sensitivity, promoting early but not paternalistic environmental education. The jury of this section included the students of the ITCG Cerboni of Portoferraio, a sign of the importance of involving the new generations in the construction of an environmental consciousness.
The crisis removed: the power of visual narration
Finally, for the graphic novel category, the prize was awarded to The great removal Of Roberto Grossi (Coconino), a powerful work from a visual and conceptual point of view, which faces the “collective removal” of the environmental crisis. The graphic novel analyzes the political and economic roots of public carelessness towards climate change and invites the reader to recover awareness and critical ability. To evaluate the work also a group of prisoners from the Porto Azzurro prison house, testifying to the will of the willingness to build inclusive paths and dialogue with often marginalized communities.
A prize, many voices
The Demetra Prize not only assigns awards, but promotes an idea of literature as a tool for civil and collective commitment. The five sections – non -fiction, narrative, translations, children’s books, graphic novels – are designed to reach different audiences and multiply the points of view on the ecological crisis. The participation of “external” juries such as students, reading clubs and prisoners contributes to making the award a widespread cultural laboratory.
Supported by Comieco with the support of public and private entities, including Seda International Packaging Group, Unicoop Tirreno And Symbola Foundationthe prize is confirmed as an open space for those who use the word – written or designed – to build a culture of non -rhetorical but aware sustainability. And perhaps even more just.
