22 Jun The Italian Publishing Scene Before, During and After the Covid Lockdown (Podcast #11)
The Italian Publishing Scene Before, During and After the Covid-19 Lockdown
By Marleen Seegers, Co-Founder of 2 Seas Agency and Host of The Make Books Travel Podcast
June 22, 2020
Chiara Scaglioni
Welcome to episode 11 of the Make Books Travel podcast. Today’s guest is Chiara Scaglioni, editor of international fiction at Mondadori in Italy.
Chiara and I met a couple of times at various book fairs last few years and had, in fact, scheduled to meet at the Mondadori offices in Milan early April this year. That meeting obviously did not happen.
Italy was the first Western country to be hit by the Covid-19 virus in late February, and for a while it was the global epicenter of the pandemic. As a consequence, the coronavirus was an important topic of our conversation.
I was especially interested in getting a sense of the current situation in Italy now that the restrictions have for a large part been lifted, bookstores have reopened, and books are being published again.
Here are some of the questions I asked Chiara:
- What is the situation in Milan currently, in light of the lifting of the lockdown restrictions?
- Can you tell me about the state of the Italian publishing market before the start of the pandemic?
- What was it like during the lockdown in terms of publishing activity: was anyone even thinking about acquiring titles?
- What happened during the lockdown in terms of book sales?
- Since bookstores have reopened, have people found their way back to buy books again?
- Has there been any government aid for Italian publishing houses, bookstores and authors to help them through this crisis?
Thank you for listening, and enjoy!
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