The Leo la Superstar! Book Launch and Children’s Workshop
Saturday, 17th December 2022, Libreria del Mare, Palermo
It was a beautiful, sunny morning on Saturday 17th December. I arrived at the Libreria del Mare bookshop with plenty of time to spare and marvelled at the beauty of the location which is directly opposite the harbour and in between the modern port of Palermo and the Porta Felice. I couldn’t believe how perfect it was for my book presentation about the sea!
The Libreria del Mare, owned by Maurizio Albanese, is a small, quirky little bookshop that contains books and other items to do with the nautical world – it would take you forever to explore everything! And up a windy little staircase is a secret room decorated in a ‘seaside’ style where my workshop and presentation would be taking place.
The day began with my English workshop for 8, 9 and 10 year old pupils (IV elementare) from the I.C. Mattarella school in Bonagia, Palermo. We had lots of fun reading, playing games, and acting out scenes from Leo la Superstar…in English. It was wonderful to see such happy children.
Later on that day, at 5pm, I got ready to give my first official presentation of Leo la Superstar! to a wider audience.
The first to speak was Stefania Guccione, the director of Thomas More Scuola Paritaria Bilingue in Palermo. She spoke about the importance of reading bilingual books.
A short while later I gave my speech. I talked about the origins of Leo la Superstar; its plot; and how to use a bilingual book in a creative way. I then went on to talk about the collection of bilingual stories that I am writing at the moment and my plans for the future.
Next to take to the stage were four amazing children who read a selection of passages from my book in Italian and English, namely: Carla Savia, who read in English, and three students from Thomas More – Giorgio Fontana who read in Italian, Isabella Rose Dioguardi, who read in English and Gaia Balistreri who read in Italian. After this, we played a fantastic game and some of the children in the audience joined in too.
Following this, Roberto Vetrano, the illustrator, spoke about how he created the fantastic pictures for Leo la Superstar.
To finish the event, I met with the public and signed copies of my book.
It was a wonderful day and it was so lovely to meet all of you. Thank you for coming! I do hope you enjoy looking at the splendid photos from the event.
I would like to thank the following people for making everything possible and so special:
Casa Editrice Albatros il Filo (di Roma), Maurizio Albanese, Roberto Vetrano, Stefania Guccione, Massimo Dioguardi, Carla Savia, Isabella Rose Dioguardi, Giorgio Fontana, Gaia Balistreri, Filippo Rizzo, Marco Rea and the pupils and teachers from I.C. Mattarella school.
Kindest regards,
Lorraine D. Cork
