Internet is fantastic!
 
It’s thanks to the Net that we’ve been able to form our group.  We were drawn together following chance meetings between readers who didn’t know one another but shared the wish to be able to read in Italy and in Italian the novels of the writers Monaldi & Sorti and, in general, to be free to read any author in our beloved country, without having to contend with boycotts or censorship.
 The novels of Monaldi & Sorti have been published in 20 languages and 45 countries, everywhere except – strangely enough – in their own country, where, in faraway 2002, their first novel Imprimatur was ‘disappeared’ shortly after its publication.
 

When Imprimatur first came out, way back in 2002, as with all books publicised on their respective websites, BOL.it and IBS.it opened threads under their articles on the novel, in which readers could enter their comments.
 And that was how our adventure started.  Some time later, IBS removed all readers’ comments from the web page on Imprimatur.  Only a few days ago, at the beginning of October, BOL removed the corresponding page, just before the Monaldi & Sorti case exploded at the Frankfurt Book Fair. 
 

With a bit of effort – and luck – we managed to get in touch with the writers, and from them we learned what we had until then only suspected: the boycott story. And since the Italian newspapers seem determined to pass this over in silence (while there’s an abundance of full-page articles in the foreign press and complete TV programmes have been devoted to the case) we decided it was time to bring the matter to the public’s attention.
 At the beginning of October, five of us – Simona, Nicola, Simone, Ettore and Marta – went to the Frankfurt Book Fair (see the photos, read our report) where three events took place concerning the Monaldi-Sorti case: the advance première of the documentary Monaldi & Sorti: Can a novel rewrite history? (See Trailer); the subsequent discussion, chaired by a journalist from the German weekly Stern, and entitled: “Monaldi & Sorti: a case of literary exile in Berlusconi’s Italy” (see photos of the discussion); and last, but not least, the party for the launching of their third novel, VERITAS, organised by the publishers.  Journalists from all the world over interviewed our authors – even from faraway Australia.  Meanwhile, from the Italian press came not one peep – and that includes newspapers representing what is supposed to be the Opposition…
 

All this prompted us to open the blog https://www.attomelani.net/ (Atto Melani is the name of the protagonist of Imprimatur).  Our aim is to open up a free space, in which to inform the free Internet people of what’s taking place in our country.  We have already succeeded in achieving one of our first aims, by getting Imprimatur reprinted in Italian – even though this was the work of a Dutch publisher!
  Neither we ourselves, the authors of the book, nor the Dutch publisher (who is selling the book at its cost price) will earn a penny from all this.  Our number one aim is to beat the boycott
 Will you join us?