“Taobuk is an open square where different identities can meet without renouncing their uniqueness” Interview with Antonella Ferrara

“It's nothing more than a landscape, but a landscape where you can find everything that seems to have been done on earth to seduce the eyes, the mind and the imagination”: these are the words of Guy de Maupassant about the city of Taormina; and if there is anyone who shares this vision to the core, that someone is Antonella Ferrara, who for 20 years has been involved in the conception, design and organization of international cultural events, president and artistic director of Taobuk — Taormina International Book Festival, a project he founded in 2011 and which today represents an international platform dedicated to literature, the arts, contemporary thought and dialogue between cultures. We had a chat with her.

Interview with Antonella Ferrara

How was Taobuk born and when did it understand that it would become an international project? This is the sixteenth edition, did you believe it from the first?

Taobuk was born from a very precise vision: to create in Sicily a cultural platform capable of dialoguing with the world by relating literature, the arts, contemporary thought and the great themes of our time. From the beginning I imagined a festival that had an international dimension, not as an abstract ambition, but as a natural consequence of the very identity of Sicily, a crossroads of peoples, languages and cultures. I have believed it since the first edition. Of course I didn't know the path that would take us here, but I was very clear about the point of arrival. I believe that having a vision is crucial.

This year's theme is trust: why this very topic? What makes it contemporary?

Trust is one of the invisible infrastructures of our coexistence. And yet, today it is perhaps one of the most fragile and precious assets. We live in a time marked by conflicts, polarizations, very rapid technological transformations and by a growing difficulty in recognizing shared authority, skills and reference points. We have wondered what holds societies together when everything seems to push us towards fragmentation. The answer was precisely trust: trust in institutions, in science, in culture, in human relationships and in the possibility of imagining the future. It is a profoundly contemporary theme, it is the antidote to barbarism.

Which guest will you carry forever in your heart and what are the names that intrigue you the most in this edition?

It's a difficult question because every encounter leaves a different mark. If I think of the guests I will always carry in my heart, I think of Annie Ernaux, Paul Auster, Isabel Allende or Mario Vargas Llosa. For this edition, I look with particular interest at meetings that bring different disciplines into dialogue. The presence of Haruki Murakami, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Jonathan Coe, Esther Duflo and Anish Kapoor represents an extraordinary opportunity to reflect on trust through different perspectives: literature, economics, visual arts and critical thinking.

His personal story and biography tell a highly cosmopolitan journey: do you think this has helped to make the festival a portal to the world?

Without a doubt. I spent part of my childhood and adolescence in different countries, following my father's diplomatic posts. I have lived in Latin America, in the Middle East, in Europe. This experience taught me very early on that there is no single way of looking at the world and that differences are not a barrier, but a wealth. I believe that Taobuk reflects this vision.

Any advice you would give to a young woman who wants to take this path? Maybe the same thing he would give to Antonella in the past?

I would tell her to consider herself first and foremost a person. A person with talent, vision, skills and responsibilities. I believe that it is important not to let others define us on the basis of our gender, but to get them used to recognizing us for what we think, for what we achieve and for the contribution we are able to make. To the Antonella of the past, I would perhaps say that I am less afraid of making mistakes. When you build something new, you inevitably make mistakes, but often they are the ones that teach us the most important lessons. Determination counts, but so does the ability to remain faithful to your initial idea without being discouraged by difficulties.

The city of Taormina has become a pearl of global tourism. How much does the city contribute to making the festival work? Could Taobuk exist without Taormina? What is the feeling you get when you arrive here for the first time, and what do you feel when you have to leave it?

Taormina is not simply the place that hosts the festival: it is an integral part of its identity. It would be hard to imagine Taobuk anywhere else. Here, history, landscape, art, memory and a natural vocation to encounter cultures that has lasted for centuries coexist. First-time visitors often experience a sense of wonder. The light, the sea, the profile of Etna, the Ancient Theater: everything helps to create a dimension almost suspended in time. On the other hand, when you leave it, there remains a feeling of nostalgia and, at the same time, the desire to return. I believe that it is precisely this ability to leave an emotional mark that makes it a unique destination.

What is there in the future of the festival?

The future of Taobuk lies in strengthening its international dimension and in its ability to build new connections between culture, innovation, cultural diplomacy and civil society. We want to continue to bring the most authoritative voices of our time to Taormina, but also to create opportunities for new generations, promote dialogue between different disciplines and consolidate the role of the festival as a permanent laboratory of ideas. In an era characterized by great transformations, culture cannot limit itself to recounting the change: it must help to guide it. This is the challenge that accompanies us and that will continue to guide our work in the coming years.