The Italian Cultural Institute of New York (ICINY) has launched an original new project dubbed the "SuperBook" competition, a prize-of-prizes format that will bring eight winners of Italy's leading literary awards to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia from March 26–29 for a series of events.

An American-based jury will choose a winning title, to be announced in September, which receives $10,000 for an English translation and promotion. The jury will be composed of 10 to 12 U.S. residents with strong connections to Italy and the ability to read Italian.

"Our goal is to increase the share of Italian fiction translated into English in the United States, which is still stuck at a very low level, around 3%, far below that of our European partners such as France and Germany," said Claudio Pagliara, a former RAI foreign correspondent who became ICI NY director in 2025. "Americans love Italy. They travel there. And it's strange that they don't bring home a book in English written by an Italian writer."

The eight competing titles are winners of Italy's most prominent literary prizes, including the Strega, Campiello, Mondello, Viareggio-Rèpaci, Flaiano, and Pop Premio Opera Prima.

The SuperBook name and format are both deliberate. Pagliara took inspiration for the competition from the Super Bowl and made a conscious choice to draw winners from multiple prizes rather than, for example, finalists from a single award. "It is intended to show the breadth of Italy’s literary culture."

The prize structure also deliberately includes at least two debut authors. "We want to try to help writers who are trying for the first time—sometimes they are better than the ones who are more well known," Pagliara said.

Venues for the March 26–29 tour include the Italian Cultural Institute on Park Avenue, Rizzoli Bookstore in NoMad, and I AM Books in Boston, as well as campus visits. Then, in September, ICINY will host "Out of Italy," a matchmaking event between Italian and American publishers.

"Italian editors will tell us what Italy has to offer in terms of literature, and American editors will tell us what the market is expecting," Pagliari said. "The idea is to try to match the two parts." The winner of the SuperBook competition will be revealed at the event.

Asked why he chose this moment to create such an elaborate competition to promote Italian literature, Pagliara said, simply, "Ferrante." He also noted that in his time living in New York, it became clear to him there is a latent appetite for Italian literature in English, one that cannot merely be fulfilled by books from just one or two authors.

"For decades, Italian contemporary literature was largely ignored by America," Pagliari said. "Then we had the phenomenon of [Elena] Ferrante. Now it is our time to push and try to make Americans more interested in our literature. I think they will be impressed.”

The eight competing authors and their award winning books:

Andrea Bajani, The Anniversary (Feltrinelli, 2025). Winner of the 2025 Strega Prize and the 2025 Young Strega Prize. The title is forthcoming from Other Press, translated by Geoffrey Brock.

Nicolò Cavallaro, The Lama of Alabama (Hacca, 2024). Winner of the 2025 Pop Prize for Debut Book.

Teresa Ciabatti, Donnaregina (Mondadori, 2025). Winner of the 2025 Mondello Prize for Best Italian Book and the 2025 BPER Women Writers Prize.

Nicola H. Cosentino, There Is a Lot of Hope (But None for Us) (Guanda, 2025). Winner of the 2025 Flaiano Prize for Authors Under 35.

Wanda Marasco, With Your Back to This World (Neri Pozza, 2025). Winner of the 2025 Campiello Prize.

Diego De Silva, The End Credits of a Life Together (Einaudi, 2024). Winner of the 2025 Viareggio-Rèpaci Prize for Fiction. Previous titles in English include My Mother-in-Law Drinks and I Hadn't Understood (both Europa Editions).

Anna Mallamo, In the Dark I Can See It (Einaudi, 2025). Winner of the 2025 Super Mondello Prize.

Leonardo San Pietro, Party with a Cassowary (Sellerio, 2025). Winner of the 2025 Mondello Prize for Debut Book. Forthcoming from Knopf.