The 2024 Costa Smeralda Special Award goes to Salmo

Anyone who frequents the genre has known for some time that Salmo is one of the strongest urban artists on a “literary” level that we have in Italy, if not the strongest overall. Now the Costa Smeralda Special Prize comes to certify the literary value of his “bars”. The rapper and producer from Olbia began his musical career at just 13 years old and became known to the general public since his first album, which mixes electronic sounds and nineties rap, a distinctive and revolutionary trait for the Italian panorama. His latest album CVLTmade together with Noyz, is an explicit homage to horror cinema and pulp culture.

The announcement comes from the presentation of the 2024 edition of the Award organized by the Costa Smeralda Consortium, whose ceremony will take place in Porto Cervo on Saturday 4 May. In continuity with previous editions, the Award, which has rapidly established itself among the major cultural events within the national literary panorama, this year confirms the ample space given to the most original talents of contemporary culture and to the discussion on major themes of actuality.

During the press conference, the three finalists of the Award were presented in the two award-winning categories, Fiction and Non-Fiction, selected within the vast panorama of Italian publishing production throughout the year, between one edition and another, by a jury ranging from Lina Bolzoni to Marcello Fois, passing through Elena Loewenthal and Chiara Valerio. The finalists of the 2024 edition, among which the overall winner will be announced on Saturday 4 May on the stage of the Conference Center in Porto Cervo, are for Narrative: Ginevra Lamberti with The well is worth more than time (Marsilio), Eugenio Murrali with his debut novel Marguerite was here (Neri Pozza) and Evelina Santangelo with The feeling of the sea (Einaudi). The non-fiction triplet is composed of: Vera Gheno with Words of a different kind (Rizzoli), Maurizio Ferraris with Learning to live (Lateza Publishers) and Vincenzo Trione with Heavenly prologue. In Anselm Kiefer’s atelier (Einaudi).