Paolo Di Paolo plans to place 200 personalized letters inside copies of his new novel, Tremare, as part of an effort to renew the relationship between authors and readers and move beyond what he describes as a tired presentation routine in an overloaded and stagnant book market.
The novel will be released on November 3 by La Nave di Teseo, marking Di Paolo’s first book with the publisher after 15 years at Feltrinelli. Some of the letters will be signed by the author in bookstores in Milan, Rome and Naples, while others will be inserted anonymously and at random among copies of the book.
According to Di Paolo, each letter will be different. Part of the text will be printed, with handwritten sections added personally by the writer. The letters will ask readers about their feelings, experiences and lives, inviting them into an emotional exploration connected to the sensations described in Tremare. Each message will also include an email address through which the recipient can contact the author.
Di Paolo described the letters as “messages in bottles”: an intimate exchange intended to make readers feel that, among thousands of books, one has addressed them personally. He said he will document the response on social media and may continue the project if readers write back.
The initiative draws inspiration from artistic performance and is presented by Di Paolo as a poetic provocation. He said the handwritten element represents a deliberately human alternative to automated interaction, while emphasizing that the exchange is meant to encourage reading rather than promote the book itself.
Tremare is written in epistolary form and is addressed to the author’s six-year-old daughter. Set two centuries ago, in the 18th century, it follows an unexpected friendship between two young people who meet outside a theatre in a small town beside a river. Although the world they inhabit seems distant, Di Paolo sees similarities with the present. He described the novel as a letter to the future that begins in the past, with wonder at its core.
The author also plans to vary the events accompanying the book’s first month of publication. These will include shared readings, DJ sets and small writing workshops inspired by the novel. At the Italian Bookshop in Paris on December 9, he said he will invite participants to choose between a romantic and an Enlightenment-oriented team, reflecting the contrast between reason and feeling.
Alongside his new novel, Di Paolo is curating Dacia Maraini. Agro e dolce. Una vita in parole e immagini, published by Rizzoli for the writer’s 90th birthday. He is also leading, with Paolo Zanchini, the curatorial team for Più Libri Più Liberi 2026, which includes Licia Troisi and Nadeesha Uyangoda.
Explaining his move to La Nave di Teseo, Di Paolo said he found the publisher particularly interested in Tremare and wanted to work with a team that believed in the story. He expressed hope that the release will mark the beginning of a longer collaboration.
Sources: ANSA Cultura.