On Thursday, April 20, 2017 the 6 winners of Kobo Writing Life’s collaborative publishing prize (Six Novels in Search of an Author – the name inspired by the classic play by Italian writer Luigi Pirandello “6 Characters in Search of an Author”) were publicly announced at the Mondadori Megastore Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy.
The awards ceremony took place in a standing-room only crowded event space on the top floor of the Mondadori Megastore Piazza del Duomo (Milan) and included inspirational talks from Michael Tamblyn (CEO Rakuten Kobo), Francesco Riganti (Marketing Director, Mondadori Store), Carlo Emanuele Bona (CEO Passione Scrittore) and moderated by journalist Angelo Crespi.
“Self publishing, to us, represents a democratization using technology to connect each author with millions of potential readers,” Michael Tamblyn said as part of his introductory remarks. “We are pleased to present this award which helps to shine a light on new work, bringing new authors to the forefront with books that we know our customers and eBook readers will enjoy.”
Our congratulations to all the authors who participated, the 6 finalists and winners, who will receive a prize a publishing contract signed directly with Rakuten Kobo! The books will be published this summer.
The 3 Winners of the Writing Competition
(Featuring Previously Unpublished Manuscripts):
– La danza del puparo – By Antonio Michele Paladino
– Diario di un’avventura improbabile di Jonathan Suiff – By Felix Madison
– Un cattivo esempio – By Tina Caramanico
The 3 Winners of the Self-Publishing Tournament
(Featuring Self-Published Books That Will Now be Published by Kobo Editions):
– Ti racconterò una storia – By Giovanna De Rosa
– Il frullo del beccaccino – By Giovanni Balsamo
– Puzzle di cuori – By Ledra

Michael Tamblyn (CEO Rakuten Kobo) presents the award to author Felix Madison (one of the six winner) along with Stefano Turo (Kobo Merchandising Manager for Italy and one of the judges for the contest)
The 6 books, when published this summer, will be featured on the Kobo and Mondadori web stores and also stocked in paperback format at more than 50 Mondadori stores across. Mondadori and Kobo Writing Life will be collaborating with the authors to do local in-store events to promote the releases of these great novels.
You can read more about the contest ceremony in Italian on the Kobo Writing Life Italy website.
congratulations, i wish you guys would place the kobo links to books especially from non english authors into the post here, make it easier to put in the library
Thanks, Richard. 3 of the titles were pub’d to KWL, and the other 3 were never there – they won’t be launched until about June once they get back from the editorial process being worked on with them. And we’ll be sure to include links to all books.
I see cool:)
I thank Kobo team for their good work and best offers.
Thanks so much, Keinnie! 🙂
Welcome please!