Salmo receives the Costa Smeralda 2024 Special Award

That Salmo is one of the strongest 'literary' artists we have in Italy, if not the strongest ever, anyone who frequents the genre has known this for some time. Now to certify the literary value of his 'bars' comes the Costa Smeralda Special Award. The Olbia-based rapper and producer began his musical career at the age of just 13 and has become known to the general public ever since his first album, in which he mixes electronic sounds and 1990s rap, a distinctive and revolutionary trait for the Italian scene. His latest album CVLT, a four-hander with Noyz, is an explicit homage to horror films and pulp culture.

The announcement comes from the presentation of the 2024 edition of the Prize organised by the Costa Smeralda Consortium, whose ceremony will take place in Porto Cervo on Saturday 4 May. In continuity with previous editions, the Prize, which has rapidly established itself among the major cultural appointments on the national literary scene, this year confirms the ample space given to the most original talents of contemporary culture and to the discussion of major topical issues.

During the press conference, the finalist trios of the Prize in the two prize categories, Fiction and Non-Fiction, were presented. They were selected from the vast panorama of Italian publishing production over the course of the year, between one edition and the next, by a jury ranging from Lina Bolzoni to Marcello Fois, via Elena Loewenthal and Chiara Valerio. The finalists for the 2024 edition, among whom the overall winner will be announced on Saturday 4 May on the stage of the Conference Centre in Porto Cervo, are for Fiction: Ginevra Lamberti with Il pozzo vale più del tempo (Marsilio), Eugenio Murrali with his debut novel Marguerite è stata qui (Neri Pozza) and Evelina Santangelo with Il sentimento del mare (Einaudi). The non-fiction triplet is instead composed of: Vera Gheno with Parole d'altro genere (Rizzoli), Maurizio Ferraris with Imparare a vivere (Editori Laterza) and Vincenzo Trione with Prologo celeste. Nell'atelier di Anselm Kiefer (Einaudi).