Nicola Lagioia in conversation with Verena von Koskull: “La città dei vivi” – “Die Stadt der Lebenden”

Nicola Lagioia and Verena von Koskull, translator of the novel from Italian into German, will read selected excerpts from the book in the two languages and talk about the complexity of the translation.

“La città dei vivi” is Nicola Lagioia’s fifth novel. Published in Italian by Einaudi, it has received numerous literary awards.

The author follows like a reporter a crime case that took place in Rome in 2016. Two boys from good families torture young Luca Varani to death. For his research, Lagioia delves into the night of Rome. A city uninhabitable yet full of life, consumed by corruption and drugs, but at the same time capable of giving its inhabitants a sense of freedom like nowhere else in the world. In search of the inexplicable motive for the murder, the author plumbs the faint, thin line between light and shadow that not only pervades the life of this city, but exists in all of us.

During the translation of the real book, Verena von Koskull is a fellow at Casa di Goethe in 2022 for the chance to be at the heart of the action. “I can follow the author’s meticulous search for clues to the bizarre ‘phenomenon of splendour and cruelty in the Eternal City’ on the spot.”

Roma, 15 09 2020
Nicola Lagioia – Ritratti
©Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini

Nicola Lagioia, born in Bari in 1973, is one of Italy’s most successful authors. In 2015, he was awarded the prestigious Premio Strega. “The City of the Living”, published in Italian by Giulio Einaudi editore in 2022 and subsequently in German by btb Verlag, was on the bestseller list in Italy for weeks and was honoured with numerous literary awards. Lagioia has been the director of the Italian Book Fair in Turin from 2017 to 2023. He lives in Rome.

Verena von Koskull

Verena von Koskull, After working for several years as a publisher in Rome and Berlin, she became a freelance literary translator in 2002. She has translated novels by Gianrico Carofiglio, Carlo Levi and Antonio Scurati, among others. In 2020, her translation of Edoardo Albinati’s The Catholic School was honoured with the German-Italian Translator’s Prize.

She was a scholarship holder of the Casa di Goethe in 2022.

Reservations at prenotazioni@casadigoethe.it