Centro Primo Levi NY at the Turin Book Fair
On May 17-22, Centro Primo Levi New York will participate in the Turin Book Fair (Pavilion n. 3 – Stand R 67 ) jointly with Centro Internazionale di Studi Primo Levi and Centre Primo Levi, Paris. Through books and the mini-docs project, Alessandro Cassin, publishing director of the Center, will present 20 years of work in the United States dedicated to the international debate on the most pressing questions raised by Primo Levi and to the history and culture of the Jews of Italy.
On May 18th at 9:00 pm, an event featuring special projects of the three organizations will be held at the Jewish community center at Piazzetta Primo Levi, 12.
CPL New York entered the publishing world in 2008 when Alessandro Cassin and Natalia Indrimi launched the online publication Printed Matter and later expanded it to the imprint CPL Editions. The books are designed by Jonathan Wajskol whose work spans between Italy, the US and China.
Introducing translations of scholarship and little known source material positioned CPL as an important contributor to the academic and cultural exchanges between Italy and the US. It also helped nourish an environment for the discussion of topics stemming from Levi’s reflections as well as from the Italian Jewish experience, such as the relation between individual and power and the exploration of minority perspectives in ancient and modern societies.
Since the invention of the printing press, publishing and printing became a thriving field for Italian Jews. The first Hebrew book was published in Reggio Calabria in 1475, and until the 19th century, Jewish publishing remained based in Italy.
For centuries, books were the principal vehicle for the circulation of ideas, innovation and exchange in the Italian Jewish world. This wealth of writings, spanning early medieval rabbinical scholarship to contemporary astrophysics, philosophy and fiction, has been largely unavailable in English.
“This endeavor stems from the deep conviction that the selected texts are the carriers of a precious cultural content, crucial for the understanding of past and current Italian Judaic thought,” said Alessandro Cassin, Director of Publishing at CPL Editions.
CPL Mini-docs:
Short documentaries for the web linked to CPL Editions books. Produced by Awen Film
Shirat Hayam, The Song of the Sea
I’m Counting on You… on Everyone
Americordo
Vanni: The Oldest Italian Bookstore in New York
CPL Editions, selected titles:
OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE–LUCK AND THE HOLOCAUST by Robert S.C. Gordon
(presented originally as the first Lezione Primo Levi at the University of Turin)
PRIMO LEVI, THE FRIEND by Bianca Guidetti Serra
ON READING IF THIS IS A MAN by Alberto Cavaglion
A SILVER MARTIAN: NORMALITY AND SEGREGATION IN PRIMO LEVI’S SLEEPING BEAUTY by Paola Mieli
REFLECTION OF AN EDUCATOR, RESEARCHER AND ENTREPRENEUR by Andrew J. Viterbi
NEW YORK LECTURES AND INTERVIEWS by Giorgio Bassani
SHIRAT HAYAM, THE SONG OF THE SEA edited by Enrico Fink
RETURN TO ERFURT: STORY OF A SHATTERED CHILDHOOD, 1935-1945
by Olga Tarcali. With an introduction by Susan Zuccotti.
AMERICORDO – THE ITALIAN JEWISH EXILES IN AMERICA by Gianna Pontercorboli
TAMARA EMMANUEL: AN ETHIOPIAN JEWISH INTELLECTUAL BETWEEN COLONIZED AND COLONIZER by Emanuela Trevisan
GATHER WHAT YOU CAN AND FLEE, JEWISH INTELLECTUAL EMIGRATION FROM FASCIST ITALY by Annalisa Capristo
SKIRMISHES ON LAKE LADOGA. VENICE TO ROME IN FLIGHT FROM TEH RACIAL LAWS by Roberto Bassi
