This week was a busy one for me and for the city of Turin. Here's a round-up of what's been happening, mostly in photos.

1. On Wednesday, I presented my book at the Circolo dei Lettori. The Readers' Circle, which I've mentioned before, is a place where you can listen to free talks by writers almost every night. I've been many times as a reader, but never yet as a writer. And it was also the first time I had presented the book in Italian to readers. Everything went well, thanks in large part to the Circolo, to the fantastic blogger Noemi Cuffia, who was co-presenting with me, and the friends and readers who showed up. One of the most amazing moments, incidentally, was when two readers arrived to speak to me afterwards who turned out to be fans of my first young adult book (published in Italy nearly ten years ago). Elisa and Gaia, if you ever come across this page, thanks so much for your enthusiasm for a book that I thought Italian readers had forgotten all about! Here are a few photos from the event...

2. The second (slightly bigger) happening this week was Turin's Salone del Libro, which I attended on Friday. It's held every year in the buildings which once housed the famous Fiat factory, and it's one of the city's most important yearly events. This year's festival, themed 'Oltre il Confine' ('Across the Border'), took place from Thursday 18th May until today, Monday 22nd. I attended the event purely as a reader (though I did get a chance to catch up with Raffaella, one of the brilliant agent team who helped sell my book in Italy, who was there from London). I started the day by attending a panel discussion on Elena Ferrante and feminism, chaired by the journalist Loredana Lipperini. Also speaking were the American writers Dayna Tortorici and Emily Witt, and the critic Tiziana de Rogatis from Siena, who spoke beautifully, I thought, about the meaning and significance of Elena Ferrante, both personally and in terms of her place as Italy's most successful writer who is currently living. I then tried and failed to attend a Daniel Pennac event with some friends (he is VERY popular in Italy, it turns out), before instead wandering into a talk by the two mathematicians Paolo Canova and Diego Rizzuto, whose book, Fate il Nostro Gioco (play our game) is about the mathematics of gambling and turned out to be fascinating. I also listened to a talk about how book-selling compares across Europe, in the professional area of the festival building, which was technical but fascinating for anyone who works in the book trade. The day ended with readings and discussion of the partisan movement, to mark seventy years since the publication of one of the most important texts of the Italian resistance, The Path to the Spiders' Nests (Il Sentiero dei Nidi di Ragno) by Italo Calvino. The discussion was accompanied by music by Cisco, a folk musician, and it was very moving to be here in the city which was at the centre of the resistance (and has been at the centre of my research over the last two years), hearing the songs of those resistance fighters come alive again.

So that was my round-up of the day. I also feel this photo is a pretty accurate representation of what it was like to walk around the conference centre, but that's all to the good. They were worried about reduced numbers this year... Probably not any more.

3. And finally, in unrelated news, Juventus won the Italian league yesterday and turned the rest of the weekend into a festa. I took a few photos, and I like this one best - for me, this sums up Turin: elegant palaces and football fans armed with fireworks coexisting (more or less) harmoniously.

A bilingual blog post this week, to announce a very exciting event which is happening this week in my adoptive hometown, Turin...