TikTok takes over the Turin Book Fair

The Salone del Libro di Torino (or Turin Book Fair, or SalTo) is about to begin, and we couldn't be more excited. This will be the 36th edition, inaugurated by the American writer Elizabeth Strout and held from March 9th to 13th at Lingotto. The theme for 2024 is Vita Immaginaria, and among the guests are already announced figures from Italian and international publishing, pop culture, and cinema, including Paolo Sorrentino, Gianni Morandi, Domenico Starnone, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Salman Rushdie, Jil Abramson, Levante, and Mercedes Ron. For some, it's a fixed appointment, for others, a whole new world to discover. Let's do it together.

How does the Turin Book Fair works?

Since its inception (in 1988, from an idea by the bookseller A. Pezzana and the entrepreneur G. Accornero), the Salone del Libro di Torino has grown immensely - from being a fair for Italian publishing, a space for exhibitors but also for discussion, launching novelties, and meeting the public - to a true social event, embracing high and low culture, pop and literature, increasingly involving more realities and visitors, from professionals to families. Having this wonderful experience is easy: just study the program well and choose the events to attend. There are presentations, meetings, workshops, and even workshops. For some of these, you will need to book in advance, so pay attention to follow the procedures, and be prepared to wait in line. If you don't feel like participating in anything specific and just want to browse through the stands of the publishing houses, you can do that too, for hours and hours. In any case, you'll need to pay the entrance fee. Reduced rates are available for schools, young people, over 65s, and for the 5-day pass.

BookTok takes center stage at SalTo

A significant space, as in recent editions, will be dedicated to BookTok, from various perspectives. Becoming a phenomenon difficult to ignore (and why should we?), this part of TikTok, through its content and its creators, sets literary trends, determines the fate of books that will become real publishing cases, and brings out the tastes of the younger generation, who seem to be divided between young adult, erotic literature, and fanfiction. But not only that. This year, at the Turin Book Fair 2024, the TikTok Book Awards will be presented for the first time. On this occasion, the community will elect favorite books, creators, and publishing houses following a preselection by a jury led by Annalena Benini, director of the Fair.

TikTok Book Awards 2024: the nominees

There are seven evaluation categories. The most prestigious is the one for BookTok creator of the year. The nominees in this category are 8. There's Sofia Raffagnato, known as brezzapoetica, Francesca Tamburini (libridifranci), Martina Levato (levv97), Magdalena Rosa (magsbook), Carmelo Romano (timidalibreriadelriccio), Valentina Ghetti, Victor Diamandis (vctordiamandis), and Megi Bulla (labibliotecadidaphne). Different approaches, methods, and creators who have one thing in common, the most important: love for books.