By Nicoletta
The eleventh publishing house on our journey is Nottetempo.
The Nottetempo logo is Benino, the sleeping shepherd from the Neapolitan nativity scene. According to tradition, Benino sleeps and does not notice the angels’ visit. Or perhaps he is the one imagining the scene in his dreams. His state is one of immersion in another reality, much like what happens with the experience of reading.
Nottetempo, founded in 2002 by Ginevra Bompiani and Roberta Einaudi, is a publishing house born from a project: to publish high-quality literary and philosophical books, written with the captivating lightness it seeks to evoke in its graphic design.
The word that unites form and content is readability.
The page is pleasant, the font large enough to avoid a frantic dash for glasses, the book light, and the margins wide.
The book is a convenient object, adapting to the reader’s needs, remembering them when they are in bed (insomniac, lazy, or sick), traveling, or waiting…
Ginevra Bompiani, daughter of publisher Valentino Bompiani, at the age of twenty left the job her father offered her in his publishing house and fled to Paris.
She studied psychology and, upon returning to Italy, created the Pesanervi series for Bompiani (1966-1970).
A series of fantastic literature that featured works by Bioy Casares, Gregory Lewis, Bierce, Walpole, and many others.
In 2002, she decided to create Nottetempo with Roberta Einaudi.
Roberta is the granddaughter of Luigi Einaudi and also of Giulio, her uncle. A graduate in languages from the University of Milan, she grew up surrounded by books and passed this passion on to her son Andrea, who now heads the Nottetempo publishing house.
In an interview at the Turin Book Fair, Roberta said: “Turin is the origin of everything. It is the place of memories. Here the cornerstone idea of my life was born: the book as an essential object in human life. My house is flooded with them, overflowing. I don’t know how people survive without owning even one.”
The original graphics, inspired by an idea of lightness and great readability, were curated by the Cerri studio, with covers designed by Dario Zannier’s Indaco studio.
The publishing house has eight series.
- Fiction (new works and classics)
- Narrativa.it (new Italian authors curated by Chiara Valerio)
- Chronicles (true and contemporary stories)
- Portraits (authors, artists, and thinkers presented in their creative intimacy)
- Figures (clear and intense essays on figures of thought and art)
- Pink and Black (the two ingredients of many masterpieces)
- Pesanervi (noir, thrillers, and fantastic literature; series closed in 2010)
- I Sassi
- I Gransassi
- New Stones in the Pond (quick and incisive books dedicated to philosophy, politics, and reading)
Poetry is featured in the poeti.com series, curated by Andrea Amerio and Maria Pace Ottieri (an ebook series with a numbered and signed limited-edition print version).
In 2016, Ginevra Bompiani stepped down from leading Nottetempo.
“A change in the spirit of continuity, so that Nottetempo continues to be synonymous with quality, lightness, commitment, and a necessary, unconventional perspective.”
She was succeeded by Andrea Gessner, son of Roberta Einaudi, also one of the founders, a member of the Administrative Committee since 2002, and CEO since 2013. Andrea Gessner acquired the majority shares of the publishing house (with over 300 titles in its catalog) and is also a founding member of the Verso bookstore in Milan.
Today, the publishing house features a well-updated website with links to reviews of the authors in its catalog.
Among the publishing house’s successful authors are:
- Milena Agus, with *Mentre dorme il pescecane* (2005), *Mal di Pietre* (2006), *Ali di Babbo* (2008), *La contessa di Ricotta* (2009), *Sottosopra* (2011). A leading voice in new Sardinian literature, she was a finalist for the Campiello Prize with *Mal di Pietre*.
In 2016, a film adaptation of *Mal di Pietre* was released. - Naomi Alderman, a successful British author with *The Power* (*Ragazze elettriche*), which is set to become an Amazon Prime Video series. She won the Orange Award for New Writers in 2006 for the novel *Disobedience*, adapted into a 2018 film directed by Sebastián Lelio. Due to her success, Nottetempo has released a box set of three of her works: *Disobedience*, *The Liars’ Gospel* (*Il vangelo dei bugiardi*), and *The Power*.
- Yan Lianke, an internationally acclaimed Chinese author with *The Dream of Ding Village* (*Il sogno del villaggio Ding*) and *The Four Books* (*I quattro libri*). He has won the Franz Kafka Prize, the Lu Xun Prize, and participated in the Man Booker Prize.
Other notable authors in Nottetempo’s fiction catalog include Susan Sontag, Barbara Alberti, Alberto Manguel, Paolo Morelli, Sandra Petrignani, Lidia Ravera, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginia Woolf, and Mo Yan.
Browse all books published by Nottetempo and many others available in our catalog.
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