S Subway-Literature awards emerging young writing talents by freely publishing their works for the eighth year in a row

Subway-Literature awards emerging young writing talents by freely publishing their works for the eighth year in a row

Milan, 28 May 2009 - Subway-Literature 2009 now presents the 12 fiction authors and 8 poets, all equal winners of the right to national publication and distribution of their works. As per tradition, the booklets will be freely distributed in the famous Literary Jukeboxes, available from today and until the 19th of June in subway stations in Milan, moving on to other cities in the expanding Subway "circuit". Also presented today are the Tratto cover pages contest winners who illustrated this year's booklets' cover pages.

Subway-Literature, the literary event organised by Davide Franzini and Oliviero Ponte di Pino, reaching its VIII edition in 2009, once again demonstrated its ability stimulate the creative genius of hundreds of young authors from all over Italy In fact, more than 1,000 writers and poets competed this year. All debuting writers, strictly under 35 and driven by the desire to see their works freely published and distributed in Italy.

Already installed in Milan, Rome, Naples, Venice, Palermo and Mantua - which confirmed their support for the event - this year Subway-Literature will also reach the Milan suburbs (23 NET lines - North East Transport) and the Emilia Romagna cities of Bologna, Cesena, Faenza, Ferrara, Forlì, Imola, Modena, Ravenna and Rimini, thus expanding its network and reaching an even higher number of subway readers.

At the same time, the number of copies of the 13 booklets has increased, all printed on 100% recyclable paper: between May and October an impressive 4,500,000 copies will be circulated in Italy. Each published book will be commented by a preface signed by one of the members of the jury.

All works can be viewed at www.subway-letteratura.org, the vast virtual jukebox to which young Italian authors can send their stories and poems and hold lively literary discussions throughout the year. Interaction and exchanges between authors will be further motivated by the popular literary blog dedicated to writers, poets and readers who, after registered on the site, can open discussions and send in their comments and opinions. A virtual network will be created to broaden the horizons of physical book distribution. Website www.subway-letteratura. org success is demonstrated by its figures: from January 2009 to date 2,523,000 site hits, 108,000 visitors, 446,000 pages opened and 31 Gb downloaded.

Tratto cover pages - II edition

Complementing the literary event, returning for the second year after last year's success, "Tratto cover pages", the contest within the contest co-promoted in partnership with trattoPEN, legendary event sponsor and pen-marker that has "guided" the hands of a myriad of talents for the last thirty years. Chaired by illustrator Alfredo Chiappori, the contest is open to young illustrators under 35 to create the cover pages for the winning works. To win and enter the ranks of those who illustrated the cover pages, candidates had to create two drawings inspired by one of the stories already published in previous Subway editions that were judged by a panel chaired by a famous illustrator.

"Last year's "Tratto cover pages" success drove us to continue searching for young and talented illustrators, essential artists who join writers and poets in successful publications." - stated Alfredo Chiappori, Chairman of the Jury. "Thus for the second year, Subway-Literature and Tratto Pen wanted to offer a precious chance for illustrators to test their skills and be introduced to a wide public, awarding debuting illustrators with exceptional visibility".