Katalin Daka: vicino/lontano: the festival

Vicino/lontano was founded in Udine in October 2004 by a group of private citizens whose aims were to stimulate and promote a public reflection over the big “open” issues of our time, by exchanging different views, fields of study and languages.
Vicino/lontano-identity and differences at a time of conflict is the most important initiative promoted by the association: it is a cultural project organized into specific sections (discussion fora, meetings, lectures, exhibitions and film screenings), which in the last five editions has brought together in our town eminent scholars – philosophers, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, journalists, historians, writers, theologians and representatives of several religions – to discuss the important topical issues of our time. Among those who have attended the festival, we are proud to include Pascal Acot, Giuliano Amato, Marc Augé, Zygmunt Bauman, Didier Bigo, Joanna Bourke, Lucio Caracciolo, Franco Cardini, Valerio Castronovo, Umberto Curi, Erri De Luca, Miklòs Hubay, François Jullien, Mohammad Khatami, Carlo Ginzburg, Serge Halimi, Gad Lerner, Perdrag Matvejević, Steve Olson, Boris Pahor, Carlo Petrini, Federico Rampini, Jeremy Rifkin, Pier Aldo Rovatti, Gayatri Spivak, Massimo Teodori, Gianni Vattimo, Salvatore Veca.
Every year since 2005 the central event of the festival is the award ceremony of the Tiziano Terzani International Literary Prize, founded by the association in collaboration with the Terzani family. The jury, presided by Angela Terzani, includes among its members some of the best Italian and foreign journalists. In its past editions, the prize was awarded to: François Bizot (Il cancello, “The gate”, 2005); Jonathan Randal (Osama, 2006); Anna Politkovskaja (to the memory of, 2007); Fabrizio Gatti (Bilal, “Bilal”, 2008) and Ahmed Rashid (Caos Asia, “Descent into chaos”, 2009).