AGP Executive Report

Publishing Rights: Italy’s Lazio Administrative Court upheld AGCOM’s rules requiring online platforms to pay publishers for using their journalism, rejecting Meta’s appeal and reinforcing publishers’ right to fair compensation. Vatican Books: The Vatican Publishing House plans to release Pope Francis’s private diary in November. The three-decade record is set to appear in five languages. Audiobooks: Spotify is expanding its audiobook service to more than 180 markets, while publishers have challenged its subscription bundle as unfair to the industry. Books on Italy: In The Italian Job, journalist Jason Horowitz argues that Italy has acted as a political laboratory for the modern far right, drawing on his years reporting from the country. Italian Cookbooks: A review of Big Mamma’s new pasta book highlights 150 recipes, from classic dishes to handmade pasta shapes.

Italian Fiction on Screen: Gianrico Carofiglio’s novels move to the screen in The Cases of Attorney Guerrieri, an eight-episode series set in Bari and starring Alessandro Gassmann. Vatican Publishing: The Vatican plans to publish a book presenting Pope Francis’s private diary worldwide in November. Book History: Scotland’s National Library acquired a 1472 edition of John Duns Scotus, printed by one of Italy’s earliest printing houses and among the first printed works to feature a Scottish author.

Audiobooks: Spotify says its audiobook service will reach more than 180 markets by the end of 2026, with Audiobooks+ topping $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The expansion comes amid criticism from publishers over Spotify’s audiobook bundle. Italian Cookbooks: UK publisher Pavillion has acquired Pomodoro, the 13th cookbook by Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo, built around a single ingredient. Literature: Canadian writer Anne Carson has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Vatican Publishing: The Vatican Publishing House will release Pope Francis’s private diary in five languages next month, drawing on three decades of his notes.

Audiobooks: Spotify is taking its audiobook service from 22 markets to more than 180 by year-end, adding Italian-language titles and working with publishers including Mondadori and Planeta. The expansion brings a major new route to readers, as publishers challenge Spotify’s subscription bundle model. Vatican Publishing: The Vatican Publishing House plans to release Pope Francis’s private diary next month. The book draws on three decades of the pontiff’s notes and is set to appear in five languages. Italian Literary Scene: Ukraine will be guest of honor at the 24th Pisa Book Festival, while translation awards spotlight work bringing Taiwanese and other international fiction to Italian readers.

Audiobooks: Spotify plans to bring its service to more than 180 markets by year-end, with titles in over 120 languages, including Italian. Monthly listeners rose 40% in the past year, even as music publishers accuse the company’s audiobook bundle of cutting royalty payments. Vatican Publishing: Pope Francis’s private diary, drawn from notes spanning more than three decades, is due out Nov. 24 in five languages and 94 countries. Venice’s History: Historian Alexander Lee’s new book, The First Ghetto, examines how Venice confined its Jewish community and how the word “ghetto” took on wider meaning. Italian Book Events: Colson Whitehead will open BookCity Milano 2026, while Ukraine is set to be guest of honor at the Pisa Book Festival; an Italian translator has also won the festival’s award for a Taiwan novel.

Audiobooks: Spotify plans to expand its service to more than 180 markets by year-end, with Italian-language titles and 12 monthly listening hours for eligible Premium subscribers in Italy. Vatican Publishing: The Vatican Publishing House plans a November release of The Private Diary of Pope Francis, featuring notes spanning three decades. BookCity Milano: Pulitzer-winning author Colson Whitehead will open the 2026 festival, bringing a major international literary voice to Milan. Book Fairs: Ukraine will be guest of honour at the Pisa Book Festival, spotlighting its publishing scene and writers. Translation: An Italian translator has won a Pisa award for a translation of a Taiwanese novel.

Vatican Publishing: The Vatican Publishing House will publish The Private Diary of Pope Francis, covering three decades of the pontiff’s notes, with release dates now pointing to late 2026. Publishing & Rights: Greece is heading to the Frankfurt Book Fair with 282 titles and 47 publishers, organized via ELIVIP, and each book will include an English summary to support international rights sales. Italian Culture Abroad: An Italian Conversation Group at the Beebe Library received a donation of children’s books sourced from Abruzzo, aiming to boost Italian-language reading and even support a hospital pediatric-ward book program. Tech & Production: LOFTAPPS will bring its generative-AI production software to VIEW Conference 2026 in Turin, alongside a sneak peek of Phil Tippett’s Mad God sequel. Sports Business: EuroLeague clubs rejected an initial NBA plan for a Europe joint league at a Lake Como summit, citing insufficient financial guarantees while talks stay open.

Vatican Publishing: The Vatican Publishing House will release “The Private Diary of Pope Francis,” based on notes kept from 1992 to 2024, worldwide in five languages on Nov. 24, with the Italian edition handled by the Vatican and other languages via Penguin Random House and Albin Michel. Publishing & Culture: Insight Editions is marking Rocky’s 50th anniversary with “The Fine Art of Rocky: An Artistic Tribute from Screen to Canvas,” featuring official Rocky artist John Rivoli’s rare paintings and a foreword by Sylvester Stallone. Tech & Retail Security: ASOS is investigating after customers received app notifications claiming hackers “fully compromised” a Snowflake instance, sending the retailer’s shares down sharply. Italy & AI Policy: Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has trademarked her voice to protect against AI deepfakes. Books & Community: A local event in Italy highlighted a biography of partisan commander “Commander Pippo,” tying publishing to regional history. Science & Agriculture: An NRC Italy-led study links olive verbascoside levels to a chromosome 21 locus, pointing to future breeding tools.

Vatican Publishing: Pope Francis’s private diary will be released on Nov. 24 in 94 countries, with the Italian edition by Libreria Editrice Vaticana and translations via Penguin Random House and Albin Michel—spanning Dec. 1992 to Aug. 2024. Church Leadership in Italy: Leo XIV’s first major personnel move sends Cardinal Mauro Gambetti (ex-head of St. Peter’s Basilica) to lead the Italian Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto, hinting at a possible shift from the prior era. Publishing & Culture: VIEW Conference 2026 in Turin adds a world premiere on DNEG Animation’s The Angry Birds Movie 3, with VFX supervisor Patrick Harboun presenting the studio’s work. Books & Authorship: Chuck Billy (Testament) is set to launch memoir Holding My Breath on Nov. 10 via Permuted Press, with major metal figures contributing. Literary Themes: A new review spotlights Barbara Kingsolver’s Partita, framing the novel as a life “made whole” from many shifting parts. Food & Italian Life: A quick recipe for creamy tortellini sausage soup keeps the Italian home-cooking spotlight on the homepage.

School Book Bans: PEN America reports nearly 12,000 book bans in U.S. public schools over the past year, with Florida and Texas leading and administrators increasingly using AI to decide what to remove. Press Freedom & Surveillance: The IFJ’s new report, Hacked Silence, warns that journalists are being spied on at unprecedented scale, threatening source confidentiality and press safety. Italian Publishing & Books: A new Italian-titled Face to Face with Putin (Rubbettino/La Nuova Europa) spotlights an Italian journalist’s 2024 interview and how the narrative frames the war years. Book Culture: A literary spotlight on Andrew Sean Greer’s Villa Coco places a surreal plot in the Italian countryside, with a translation push underway. Awards & Events: Ukraine is set as guest of honor at the Pisa Book Festival, while BookCity Milano 2026 welcomes Colson Whitehead. Mini Books: In Baku, an Azerbaijani collector’s decades-long miniature book obsession has grown into a museum with about 8,000 tiny publications.

WWII Memoir Spotlight: Lt. Aleda E. Lutz’s story resurfaces through a detailed account of her service as an Army Nurse Corps flight nurse, from German POW camp work in the U.S. to North Africa evacuations—an unexpected publishing-worthy reminder of how personal archives become history. Italian Publishing & Translation: A new book, Avventurevolissimevolmente, by Dr Luca Moretti and Dr Lucia Oliva, is moving beyond Italy with an English translation project after a successful tour, showing how Italian travel writing can travel too. Book-to-World Culture: A literary journey “without borders” theme also appears in coverage of a memoir about surrogacy in Arkansas, highlighting how Italian authors are tackling taboo topics for international readers. Events for Readers: Ukraine is guest of honor at the 24th Pisa Book Festival in Italy, while the week also flags a book launch fundraiser for Ukraine—proof that publishing news and geopolitics keep intersecting.

Publishing & Culture: Pisa Book Festival (Oct 2–4) puts Ukraine in the spotlight as guest country, with authors and translators plus an illustrators’ exhibition at Palazzo Blu, alongside 90 booths from Italy’s independent publishers and 200+ events. Italian Publishing Spotlight: A new book documents pre-oil Gulf architecture, pairing art and history with detailed illustrations and archival photos, aiming to teach students about overlooked structures beyond the usual Dubai/Manama focus. Books & Society: A memoir titled “Arkansas: Storia di mia figlia” by Italian author Chiara Tagliaferri recounts a surrogacy journey in Arkansas after the practice was illegal in Italy, now partially available in English. International Literary Links: The Israeli Institute for Hebrew Literature plans a push at the Frankfurt Book Fair, highlighting how literature and politics collide for translated works. Academic/Religion Studies: MBZUH’s international conference in Padua ends with recommendations including shared research publication and AI ethics grounded in shared human values.

Publishing & Culture: Pisa Book Festival opens with Ukraine as guest of honor, featuring writers and translators plus an illustrators’ exhibition at Palazzo Blu, while Italian translator Silvia Pozzi wins a Pisa Book Translation Award for “Ghost Town” (“Città fantasma”). Books & Reading Habits: A new discussion on academia’s “reading crisis” argues students read constantly online, but classroom textbooks don’t feel connected to their lives—so interest doesn’t translate. Book Industry & Scams: A major investigation describes a long-running scheme where impersonators email authors and agents to request manuscripts, mirroring a prior literary fraud case. Film & Adaptation: “Verity” hits theaters with Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, but its lakeside “Vermont” mansion is actually filmed at a real New York property (the Nierenberg House). Health & Lifestyle: Studies link GLP-1 drugs to reported hair loss and nail changes, without proving direct cause. Local Education Leadership: Professor Wasim Qazi is appointed Vice Chancellor of Karachi University for four years.

Pisa Book Festival Spotlight: Ukraine is the guest of honor at the 24th Pisa Book Festival (Oct 2–4), with authors and translators plus an exhibition of Ukrainian illustrators at Palazzo Blu through Jan 10, 2027—another push for independent publishing in Italy. Translation & Awards: Italian translator Silvia Pozzi wins a Pisa Book Translation Award for her Italian edition “Città fantasma” of Taiwanese author Kevin Chen’s “Ghost Town,” highlighting Italy’s role in bringing East Asian fiction to new readers. Publishing Industry Scandal: A New York Times report details how a literary-agent impersonator scheme has targeted authors and scouts with lookalike emails, leading to legal fallout for one perpetrator and fresh warnings for the book business. Crime Fiction Milestone: Alicia Giménez Bartlett marks 30 years of Petra Delicado with “Bajo el cielo infernal,” published by Destino, blending grief with the series’ sharp, literary crime style. Culture & Faith on Screen: EWTN’s documentary “Stigmata” explores the phenomenon through an Italy-set investigation, including Padre Pio, mixing archival material and dramatizations.

BookCity Milano 2026: Colson Whitehead will open the 15th edition of BookCity Milano on Nov. 23 at Teatro Dal Verme, with a conversation with Il Post’s Francesco Costa and the Milan City Seal; his latest novel Cool Machine lands in Italian bookstores Oct. 13 via Mondadori. Publishing & Culture: A new exhibition, NEW26 at ACCA, digs into how AI reshapes knowledge and memory, with artists treating data as a modern “prophecy.” AI in the arts: An AI-generated illustration controversy hits the book Directive Detectives: The Freedom Trail Directive, raising questions about who “confabulates” images and why. Health & meds: Research links GLP-1 drugs to higher rates of hair loss and nail problems, urging patients not to stop treatment on their own. Italy in global news: Italy and Pakistan review defence and security cooperation in Rome, including de-escalation efforts in the Middle East.

Markets Watch: Oil slid and bond yields steadied ahead of U.S. jobs data, lifting global shares, while Europe’s bond stress—especially France vs Germany—kept investors on edge. Publishing & Books: A new Italian-language edition of “A Christian on Death Row” (Incendio Press/LEV) gets a Pope Francis preface, spotlighting pastoral work on Florida’s death row. Literary Industry Careers: Daniela Schlingmann Literary Scouting promoted Isabel Martin and Tom Taylor, underscoring how scouting keeps cross-border trends in view. Culture & Storytelling: Luca Guadagnino talks shooting his upcoming film “Artificial” in Northern Italy, tying tech ambition to Olivetti’s industrial legacy. Fashion & Reading Culture: A “fringed skirt” trend roundup mixes runway notes with broader style chatter, while a Rome travel guide pushes “local” pacing over checklists. Health & Science: A Sicily-based study reports dupilumab easing ear disease in nasal polyp patients, adding to type-2 inflammation treatment momentum.