20th Annual Week of Italian Language in the World
Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic
Join us for Telephone Tales, a series of 12 short, sweet stories for kids by beloved Italian children’s author, Gianni Rodari, in a new English translation by Antony Shugaar, with Illustrations by Valerio Vidali. A co-production of the Embassy of Italy, the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington DC and Enchanted Lion Books with the support of Imagination Stage.
Premiering October 17 on KidsEuroFestival.org
PREVIEW (via YouTube)
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Episode 1: Once upon a time… |
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Gianni Rodari (1920-1980) has often been called Italy’s most beloved children’s author, but his work has remained all but unknown in the US…until now. In honor of his 100th birthday, Enchanted Lion Books has just published a delightful new English translation of his masterpiece, Favole al Telefono (Telephone Tales), and we’ve created an online video read-aloud series presenting 12 stories from the book.
Rodari is known for his love of word play, nonsense, and looking at issues of social justice and equality from a fresh, playful perspective. Telephone Tales is a collection of 70 bedtime stories told by a travelling salesman to his daughter over the telephone—each one short enough to be finished in the time allotted by a single payphone token. They’re wildly inventive, sometimes silly, sometimes surreal, and always profound—just like Gianni Rodari.
See what the New York Times had to say about Rodari and the new Edition of Telephone Tales.
About Kids Euro Festival
Now in its 13th year, Kids Euro Festival is one of the largest performing arts festivals for children in America, bringing some of Europe’s most talented children’s entertainers to the nation’s capital. Organized by the EU Delegation to the United States and with activities both for the general public and for school groups, more than 10,000 Washington DC-area children and their families enjoy Kids Euro Festival programs each year.
Due to COVID-19, no in-person events will be held this fall in order to maintain the safety of our performers and audiences. Instead we offer families all over the world access to an extended virtual festival with a full 6 weeks of online programming. As always, all programs are completely free! Tune in for performances, concerts, workshops, movies, storytelling, puppetry, dance, and more.