for literature, the Nobel Prize winner Jon Fosse, Jonathan Safran Foer

for visual arts, Marina Abramović for dance, the étoile Nicoletta Manni and the choreographer Moses Pendleton

for cinema, the directors Paolo Sorrentino and Ferzan Özpetek and the actress Kasia Smutniak

for music, the singer Noemi and the tenor Riccardo Massi

for information to the journalist Elvira Terranova

This is in memory of Franco Di Mare, president of the festival’s scientific committee from 2011 to 2016. The soundtrack will be entrusted to the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, directed by Gianna Fratta.

The Taobuk Award for Literary Excellence will be awarded to three writers: the Norwegian Jon Fosse, the 2023 Nobel Prize winner for literature;  the American Jonathan Safran Foer, who in Everything is Illuminated reveals to the reader the recherche of his roots, along a biographical path in which pain and love, past and present continuously intersect; the Spaniard Fernando Aramburu. The Spanish writer will receive the Taobuk Award from the Spanish Ambassador to Italy, Miguel Ángel Fernández-Palacios Martínez on the occasion of an event scheduled for Sunday, 23 June, in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in Italy and the Instituto Cervantes of Palermo. Taobuk Award is also given to the writer and playwright Alessandro Baricco.

The international festival, conceived and directed by Antonella Ferrara, is taking place in the gardens and spaces of Palazzo Duchi di Santo Stefano, Piazza IX Aprile, Casa Cuseni, Palazzo Corvaja, Hotel Villa Diodoro, San Domenico Palace Hotel, Historical Archive, D’O Dell’Oglio, Delta Marriot, and the Ancient Theater of Taormina.

The 14th edition of Taobuk is organised thanks to the support of the Sicilian Region, under the High Patronage of the European Parliament, with the Patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, with the support of the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate of Entertainment, Ministry of Tourism, ENIT – S.p.A, Fondazione Taormina Arte Sicilia, with the contribution of the City of Taormina, Naxos Taormina Archaeological Park, University of Messina, University of Catania, LUISS ‘Guido Carli’ University of Rome, in collaboration with the Representation in Italy of the European Commission.

Main Partner TIM, Gold Partner Eni and BPER, Official Partner MAXXI – National Museum of the Arts of the 21st Century and Enel, Musical Co-Producer Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, Partner Fondazione Mondadori, Fondazione Bonino Pulejo.