The Kindness of Book Giving: Nicola Pesce's Mission

Donating 1000 books to Italian elementary schools. This is the challenge launched by Nicola Pesce, writer, publisher, entrepreneur, and 'kindness influencer', who will be at the Barbarossa bookstore in Benevento on Wednesday, April 3rd at 6 PM to present his latest book, 'The Flavor of Apricot', published by Mondadori. A portion of these books will be delivered right in Benevento on the day of the presentation, to the students of the comprehensive institute 'Pietro Giannone', San Filippo branch. A cult author of books for children and novels for adults, Pesce will send the books entirely at his own expense to anyone who requests them. The goal is to send ten books to one hundred schools: after all, donating books is an activity that Pesce undertook almost by chance in 2020, on the occasion of the release of his second work, 'Edith's Breath'. 'It happened that I found myself at the publisher's stand presenting the book and signing copies - he remembers -, How many times it happened that children of all ages stopped amazed and captivated, but they didn't have the money to buy it or were hurried away by their parents. Often it ended up that I was the one giving it to them. On that occasion, I discovered that donating books warms my heart and I cannot deprive myself of this small great joy!' In the last four years, the author has donated as many as 20,000 books to schools, public libraries, associations, to the point of earning the nickname 'Santa Claus of books' from some of the main national newspapers. The next batch of texts will directly supply the libraries and reading rooms of hundreds of Italian elementary schools. The idea was born last year in a school in Turin. 'They had told me that a teacher regularly gathered the little students in the school garden and read them one of my books' Pesce recounts. 'So I decided to surprise them, I showed up at school and read a chapter to the boys. My heart broke in two when I saw my humble novel 'The Fox Who Loved Books' on a lectern. I knew I didn't deserve such an honor! And so, I came up with the idea of donating the books to these school reading rooms, to these libraries in elementary schools throughout Italy.'