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MIU MIU LITERARY CLUB MILAN, APRIL 17TH AND 18TH

MIU MIU LITERARY CLUB MILAN, APRIL 17TH AND 18TH April 2, 2024Events, Milan0 Comments

MIU MIU LITERARY CLUB MILAN

APRIL 17TH AND 18TH

Miu Miu is pleased to introduce its inaugural Literary Club, Writing Life, a two-day event bringing back into focus the work of Sibilla Aleramo and Alba De Céspedes, alongside conversations, live performances and entertainment, further enhancing Miu Miu’s commitment to contemporary thought.
Inspired by Europe’s rich heritage of literary salons and artist collectives, and a reflection of the lives of women past and present through the written word, it is located at Circolo Filologico in Milan and will take place on April 17 and 18 from 3pm to 9pm.
Miu Miu Literary Club champions two landmark titles: Aleramo’s “A Woman”, first published in 1906, and De Céspedes’s “Forbidden Notebook”, published almost half a century later in 1952. Both works demonstrate the power of writing as a creative medium which, for centuries, has allowed women to express their thoughts, desires and ideologies, asserting their independence and inspiring their own and future generations to do the same.
Miu Miu Literary Club, Writing Life, is conceived to further promote such discourse as well as an understanding of history and education, central both to Miu Miu’s identity and to the lives of women today. In a series of panel discussions and performances curated by Olga Campofreda – writer and researcher in Italian culture, language and literature – ideas focusing on women’s position in society, including family, motherhood and work, will be shared and opened up for conversation, springing from the words of these ground-breaking authors.
Speaking about their everyday and creative lives, the thoughts of contemporary authors and commentators will interact with those of the great literary teachers of the past allowing their legacies to enrich the future. Panelists include 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, Italian writer and Strega prize finalist Claudia Durastanti, critically acclaimed writer Sheila Heti, Italian writer and 2011 Campiello Opera Prima winner Viola Di Grado, Booker prize long-listed author Selby Wynn Schwartz and Xiaolu Guo, a Chinese-born British novelist, memoirist and film-maker (National Book Critics Circle Award 2017). Panels will be moderated by writer and curator Lou Stoppard and by author, presenter and journalist Zing Tsjeng.
Similarly evocative poetry and readings will be performed in the afternoon of both days, together with live music performances.
Miu Miu Literary Club is the latest in a series of cultural experiences, devised and supported by Miu Miu, to promote the arts. These include Women’s Tales, an initiative designed to facilitate female film directors, now in its 27th iteration, and collaborations with multi-disciplinary artists for collections and fashion show presentations. Both “A Woman” and “Forbidden Notebook” will be available for the occasion, wrapped in special Miu Miu packaging.
Registrations to attend the Miu Miu Literary Club from April 6th on miumiu.com.

April 17th 3:30pm – “ALBA DE CÉSPEDES”:
Creative spaces, creative time
Moderated by writer and curator Lou Stoppard

What does it mean for a woman to find her own voice beyond her gendered roles as mother, spouse, housewife, worker? What Alba De Cespedes wrote in “Forbidden Notebook”, a gem of Italian 1950’s literature, is back at the centre of today’s debate on women’s identity and space in our society. Pulitzer prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, Strega prize finalist Claudia Durastanti and critically acclaimed author Sheila Heti join a conversation about the dilemmas and joys that come from balancing womanhood and creativity starting from their own lived experience.
4:30pm – 9pm: Readings, live performances and entertainment

April 18th 3:30pm – “SIBILLA ALERAMO”:
Our brilliant sisters
Moderated by author, presenter and journalist Zing Tsjeng
First published in 1906, “A Woman” by Sibilla Aleramo is considered Italy’s first feminist novel. It is an intimate, personal memoir as well as a passionate discussion on motherhood, marriage and freedom, and it has had a profound and enduring influence on the work of many contemporary women writers, such as Elena Ferrante’s novel The Lost Child. Viola Di Grado (Campiello Opera Prima), Selby Wynn Schwartz (finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Nonfiction and long-listed for the Booker prize) and novelist, memoirist and film-maker Xiaolu Guo (National Book Critics Circle Award) will join a conversation discussing the role of love in women’s empowered lives, the power of sisterhood and the legacy of past women writers.
4:30pm – 9pm: Readings, live performances and entertainment

Tags: Alba De Céspedes, Circolo Filologico in Milan, Claudia Durastanti, Jhumpa Lahiri, Miu Miu Literary Club, Selby Wynn Schwartz, Sheila Heti, Sibilla Aleramo, Viola Di Grado, Xiaolu Guo