Appointment on the GO stage with a special presentation that will also be a creative writing lesson! Eleonora Sottili, author of Come diventare Anna Karenina (senza finire sotto un treno) published by Einaudi, will be present, in conversation with Emiliano Poddi.

The Book:

Jumping over a red rope and then mimicking a flying insect, walking with heightened senses, climbing trees, swimming in icy water. These activities might seem like those of a scout camp, but they are actually part of a writing course. At least, that's what the flyer said, which Eleonora interpreted as a sign of destiny. However, destiny often contradicts expectations, and in fact, the course is led by a handsome guy who is an actor and seems seriously convinced that in writing, and perhaps in life, the key issue is this: to jump or not to jump over that red rope. What if he’s right? What if, by trying to become the person she wants to be, Eleonora could discover who she really is? This is a cheerful and unconventional book that blends narrative forms and voices, intertwining the plots of great novels with the biographies of their authors. It’s the story of an adventurous, slightly askew, and resolutely carefree literary (and sentimental) education.

Eleonora, "thirty-two years old, a white-collar worker, happily married," wrote a novel about sheep as a child that thrilled her mother. It was her mother who planted the dream of becoming a writer in her head, but since then, Eleonora hasn’t written a single line, not even about sheep, limiting herself to being photographed in a pensive pose like the great novelists. She dresses in dark colors, has fragile hair and nails – and her happiness also seems fragile: she has tried so hard not to be overwhelmed by pain that she no longer feels anything clearly. Just a discomfort she has learned to ignore, like a drop of cold water dripping on your elbow while doing the dishes. When she finally decides to attend a writing workshop, she discovers that her classmates, a bunch of melancholic and emotionally unstable students, are just like her: aspiring writers who never actually write. Leading them is Enrico, who seems to materialize only for the duration of his lessons. Maybe because he’s an actor, his method appears unconventional from the start. Instead of making them write, he forces them to act as Romeo and Juliet. He abruptly asks them questions like, “Are you in love like Emma Bovary?”, “Do you shine like Anna Karenina?”, “Could you live in the woods?” Bewildered, even suspicious, Eleonora and her classmates find themselves studying – and imitating – the habits and quirks of Tolstoy, Mary Shelley, Stevenson, and Conan Doyle, as well as their characters. Meanwhile, their stories intertwine, and some begin to confuse novels and life...

The Author:

Eleonora Sottili was born in Tuscany in 1970 and works at the Holden School. She has published "Il futuro è nella plastica" (Nottetempo 2010) and "Se tu fossi neve" (Giunti 2015). For Einaudi, she published "Senti che vento" in 2020 and, in 2024, "Come diventare Anna Karenina (senza finire sotto un treno)." She co-edited the volume "Scrivere," included in the anthology "La seconda luna" (Zanichelli 2018).