Antonio Franchini | The body of writing, the writing of the body

Sconfinare Festival 2025 OLTRE IL MURO |Saturday, October 11 | 11 a.m.

For Antonio Franchini, the body is not just presence, matter, effort. It is a key to accessing the world, a filter through which to interpret reality even before reason, culture or psychology come into play. From martial arts to immersion in nature, from physical struggle to confrontation with pain, in his books – from Quando vi ucciderete, maestro? (When will you kill yourself, master?) to the recent, beautiful Il fuoco che ti porti dentro (The fire you carry inside), dedicated to the figure of the mother – the body becomes a living narrative and an instrument of knowledge. But writing also has a body, its own undeniable physicality, which often translates into confrontation and immersion in the writings of others. In this “hand-to-hand combat”, Franchini also explores the forms in which narrative can be embodied and transformed through the act of reading and editorial care.

The conference will be moderated by Roberto Falconi, literary critic and teacher.

Antonio Franchini is a writer and editor. He has published numerous novels and short story collections, including Quando vi ucciderete, maestro? (Marsilio, 1996), Acqua, sudore, ghiaccio (Marsilio, 1998) and Il fuoco che ti porti dentro (Marsilio, 2024, finalist for the Campiello Prize and the Mondello Special Prize of the President). A leading figure in the Italian publishing scene, he is editorial director of the Giunti group.