Conference

Saturday, October 3rd, 11:00 AM
in the Central Pavilion

Le voci degli alberi non lo lasciavano dormire
(The voices of the trees would not let him sleep)

with Christophe Ségas, writer; Tiziano Fratus, tree chronicler, poet and photographer; and Laura Putti, publisher.

The subject is strikingly relevant. These days, it is no longer unusual to encounter people embracing trees while walking through a forest. Are they speaking to the trees? Or to themselves? Do trees have a voice? In the case of Olivier Georges Gaillard, the lumberjack and poet at the heart of Christophe Ségas’s novel, the pines speak through him, consuming him from within. Nightmare, delirium and the abyss become part of his journey. Only by fleeing to Patagonia can he surrender to the gentler, more reassuring voice of the beech trees. From the imagined forests of Christophe Ségas to the real forests explored by Tiziano Fratus, the dialogue with trees continues to challenge and deepen our relationship with nature. Fratus has listened to the voices of the giant sequoias and given them form in many of his books. A conversation at the intersection of literature, spirituality and ecology.

Bio

Christophe Ségas was born in Bordeaux and grew up in the Landes, a region on the Bay of Biscay covered for almost three quarters of its area by the largest forest in mainland France: an immense pine forest. He now lives in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where he teaches French at secondary school. He has published seven novels in France, five of them with Les Éditions du Chemin de Fer. The Life of O.G. Gaillard: Lumberjack and Poet, translated into Italian by Paola Vallatta and published by Ventanas, marks his debut with an Italian publisher.

 

Tiziano Fratus (Bergamo, 1975) likes to describe himself as an “editorial nomad”. His lifelong research has taken shape in an extensive body of poetic and narrative work centred on forests, spanning more than forty books published by leading Italian publishers including Mondadori, Einaudi, Feltrinelli, Bompiani, Aboca, Laterza, Gribaudo and Solferino. He coined concepts such as Homo Radix, Silva itinerans and Dendrosophy. He has contributed to newspapers, radio and RAI, and has presented several photography exhibitions. His poetry has been translated into eleven languages and published in twenty countries. He lives at the foot of the Alps, facing a forest.

Tiziano Fratus / Bergamo / Studiohomoradix.com

 

Laura Putti, a senior correspondent for la Repubblica for more than forty years, founded Ventanas in 2023, an independent publishing house driven by curiosity, rigour and courage. Through its three imprints—Palabras for translations from Spanish, Parole for Italian fiction and Parole for French fiction—Ventanas has developed a distinctive focus on literary language and stylistic research. A man possessed by the voices of trees could hardly fail to find a place in its catalogue.

Laura Putti / Ventanas / Rome / ventanasedizioni.it

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