Catherine Banner's Blog, page 2

Internationales literaturfestival Berlin

Some news: on Friday I will be travelling to Berlin to take part in the Internationales Literaturfestival 2017. The story of how I came to be going to this festival is quite an indirect one... A few months ago, along with some other female writers from various countries who I know via social media, I was trying to figure out whether there was anything we could do in the current political climate to start a network of writers committed to taking action on issues of democracy and human ri...

My Favourite Bookshops in Torino: Episode Two

Last year I wrote a blog post about five of my favourite bookshops in Torino, which you can find here. But one of the great things about this city is that its beautiful bookshops are almost unlimited, and so this year I thought I should add a few updates. Featured this week, Libreria Il Banco, one of Turin's most particular and unusual bookshops: I found two of the only books on the Italian resistance I hadn't yet read... Originally, Il Banco was set up just as a summer bookstall along o...

International Cover Designs, and An International Book Giveaway

This week I thought I'd show you some of the international cover designs for The House at the Edge of Night. Here are the ones that have arrived with me so far!
Recently I've been sorting through them and marvelling at the many different and beautiful ways the cover designers have imagined the island of Castellamare. But there are a few to spare, and this got me thinking that I would like to share some of them with readers. As some of you already know, I'm currently on Day 332 of 365 in...

US/Canadian Paperback Publication: The House at the Edge of Night

On the 20th of June, The House at the Edge of Night came out in the USA and Canada! And a few copies also reached me in Italy, thanks to my publishers Random House and Doubleday: Here's the cover. I think the designer did a really beautiful job. At the moment it's available in most bookstores in the US, so if you've been waiting to get your hands on a paperback copy, now is your chance! In other news, this Saturday was the patron saint's festival here in Turin, La Festa di San Gio...

This Week in Turin (and Amsterdam)

This week I was in the Netherlands for the publication of The House at the Edge of Night, or De Lange Dagen van Castellamare! Here are just a few photos of what happened while I was there. On the first day when I arrived, I did an interview with De Telegraaf, a Dutch national newspaper, and also with hebban.nl, which is similar to GoodReads. Here are Renate and Helma from Hebban, who were both lovely and very passionate about books and reading (they gave me some recommendations fo...

Wine & reading @ spazio 19, 12/6/17, 6:30pm

I am spending the next couple of days with my Dutch publishers in Amsterdam (full report to follow next week!). But meanwhile, I am checking in here to invite you to a very special event which will be taking place on Friday, at my home from home in Turin, Spazio 19 Coworking. More details below... Lettori e amici Torinesi, questo venerdi' il 16 presentiamo il libro La Casa sull'Isola a Spazio 19 Coworking, alle 18:30. Ci sara' un assaggio di vino da La Bottega Store, e poi qualche lettu...

Paperback Covers

This week, I am very happy to present the paperback covers for the US/Canadian and UK editions of The House at the Edge of Night. Here they are... The one on the left is the US/Canadian version, and the one on the right the UK. The UK edition will be out on the 15th of June, but is currently available exclusively at WHSmith travel shops if you want to get hold of it before the official publication date. And the US/Canadian editions arrive shortly after, both on the 20t...

This Week in Turin: presenting my book in Italian, 30th Salone del Libro, and Juventus

This week was a busy one for me and for the city of Turin. Here's a round-up of what's been happening, mostly in photos.

1. On Wednesday, I presented my book at the Circolo dei Lettori. The Readers' Circle, which I've mentioned before, is a place where you can listen to free talks by writers almost every night. I've been many times as a reader, but never yet as a writer. And it was also the first time I had presented the book in Italian to readers. Everything went well, thanks in large part to...

La Casa sull'Isola, Circolo dei Lettori, 17-5-2017

A bilingual blog post this week, to announce a very exciting event which is happening this week in my adoptive hometown, Turin... Notizie per i miei lettori italiani! Questo mercoledi' il 17 maggio presento La Casa sull'Isola al Circolo dei Lettori, Torino, alle 18:00. Per presentare il libro ci sara' con me la bravissima blogger e scrittrice Noemi Cuffia (puoi vedere il suo blog, Tazzina di Caffe', qua - http://eccomimi.blogspot.it - e vi lo consiglio vivamente perche' e' molto be...

In times of difficulty, how can writers help?

Dear Readers,

This is normally a page for sharing news about my books - which, incidentally, deal with the rise of Fascism in Italy during the 1920s and 30s. But today, in light of recent world events, I feel that I can't remain silent. As writers, we are often very good at making beautifully-worded statements and not so good at taking real-world action. This just isn't good enough. I know that readers look to us to see how we react when the situations we deal with in our books repeat themselv...