Turin Book Fair Director Nicola
Lagioia on Thursday remembered Luis Sepulveda, the hugely
popular Chilean writer who died with the coronavirus earlier in
the day at the age of 70 in Oviedo - who was also mourned by his
28-year-long Italian translator, Ilide Carmignani.
"Sepulveda came to the Turin Book fair with great pleasure,"
Lagioia told ANSA.
"He came a load of times, the last time in 2019.
"We are extremely attached to him.
"For us it's as if a piece of our extended family has
passed".
Carmignani told ANSA "Sepulveda had the extraordinary ability
to turn many work relations into friendship.
"He was a person of extreme generosity".
Carmignani translated all but the first of the Chilean's
novels including the 1996 bestseller and prize winner The Story
of A Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly.
She also translated his poetry and newspaper articles, and on
Thursday recalled the "fiery" political commitment of the
Communist activist who was imprisoned and tortured by the
Pinochet regime.
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