Bambino - Marco Balzano

A reading and conversation with Marco Balzano. Hosted by Paola Barbon, with Johannes Wördemann reading selected passages.

Trieste, 1920. Mattia is a fascist from the very start - his face still beardless, which is why they call him Bambino, but his fists are hard enough that half the city fears him. He doesn't know who his mother is. Could she be one from the other side, a Slovenian? His father, an antifascist watchmaker, refuses to tell him. In the mud of the Second World War, Mattia loses every certainty he ever had and learns that today's winner can easily become tomorrow's loser. Translated from Italian by Peter Klöss.

Marco Balzano, born in 1978 in Milan, writes poetry, essays, short stories and novels. His book "I'm Staying Here" was nominated for the Premio Strega and became a major bestseller in Italy and the German-speaking world. He lives with his family in Milan.

In cooperation with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Stuttgart.