Book Fair – The thirty-eighth edition looks at the relationship between books, new generations and
transformations of the present, with a program that intertwines great guests
international, professional publishing, new audiences and events in the city.
From 14 to 18 May 2026, the Lingotto Fiere in Turin will host the XXXVIII edition of the Salone
International of the Book. On the program there are over 2,700 events distributed in 70 rooms and more
of 1,250 publishing brands, numbers that confirm the weight of the event in the
Italian cultural panorama. Italian Traditions dedicates an in-depth analysis to the themes, to the guests
and the most relevant news of the 2026 edition.
The title chosen, “The world saved by children”, directly recalls Elsa Morante and
indicates a precise direction: looking at the present through who will inherit it. Childhood and
adolescence are not only the recipients of workshops and activities, but become the point of
to observe identities, relationships, digital languages, environmental crisis, wars, education
sentimental and new forms of community.
Annalena Benini’s editorial management organizes the program around nine sections
themes. In the fields dedicated to novels, information, publishing, cinema, art, romance,
lightness and growth is added a new area related to the main theme. A birth of one is born
wide calendar, designed to alternate meetings with writers, dialogues on the publishing profession,
family dates, journalistic insights and forays into popular languages.
The international profile remains one of the most recognizable features of the Salon. Among the announced guests
include Zadie Smith, Emmanuel Carrère, David Grossman, Valeria Luiselli, Irvine Welsh,
Abraham Verghese, Lea Ypi, László Krasznahorkai and Bernie Sanders. Next to them, the
calendar gives voice to some central names on the Italian scene, from Alessandro Baricco and
Dacia Maraini to Niccolò Ammaniti, Corrado Augias, Alessandro Barbero and Zerocalcare.
Greece and Umbria will be the focus of two dedicated focuses. Greece, the host country, will lead to
Turin authors, publishers and voices of contemporary Hellenic culture, shifting our gaze from
only classical legacy to today’s literary production. Umbria, the guest region, will tell the story
instead its own heritage through publishing, festivals, journalism, music, literature and
territorial identities.
A significant part of the work on younger readers comes from Bookstock, which in 2026 will
presents expanded with 180 events including workshops, readings, shows and meetings. A
this connects the work built during the year with projects like “Adopt a writer,
a writer”, who brings authors to schools, hospitals and institutes
penitentiaries.
The theme of adolescence finds a specific in-depth analysis in the work edited by Matteo
Lancini, between fragility, loneliness, emotions, and relationships with adults. Francesco Costa faces
instead the terrain of information, at a time when wars, polarization,
digital transformation and crisis of trust are changing journalistic work. They
two sections that push the Salon beyond the literary enclosure and put books in direct relation
with reality.
The 2026 edition also looks to genres and new audiences. The romance, edited by Erin Doom,
occupies a now consolidated role in a fair which in recent years has followed closely
the weight of digital communities in the circulation of books. Comic, series, dissemination,
cinema and comedy contribute to expanding the field of reading, without reducing it to the sole
literary tradition.
The link with Turin passes above all from the OFF Salon. From ’8 to 19 May there are plans for more
a thousand events in around four hundred places, including libraries, museums, theatres, cinemas, parks,
bookstores, schools and unconventional spaces. It’s the part of the event that brings books,
authors and readers in the Turin neighborhoods and in various centers of Piedmont, also intercepting those
he doesn’t enter the Lingotto.
Alongside the general public, the Salon maintains a strong professional function. In the days
of the event you will meet publishers, booksellers, agents, librarians, translators, illustrators,
authors and supply chain operators to discuss production, distribution, rights, promotion
of reading and market transformations. The presence of self-publishers adds to the picture
traditional publishing independent publishing experiences and new channels of access to
readers.
The 2026 Book Fair thus finds its strength in the ability to hold together different plans: the
fair and the city, the publishing market and the school, the already established authors and new readers, the
literature and the questions of the present. Starting with the boys does not mean narrowing the
gaze, but bring it towards those who will inherit the choices, conflicts and transformations of these years.
For five days Turin becomes the place where books are not only presented, sold or
told, but they return to the center as tools to understand the changing time and give voice
to the generations called upon to interpret it.
