Entering the green quiet atmosphere of the garden of the Mantegna House, just outside the city centre, anything seems possible, except finding a junior-aged, post-punk, rock-loving audience. Isn’t this supposed to be a children’s event? It is. The great Dutch author Enne Koens has tuned into the exact wavelength of her young readers. In two novels presented at Festivaletteratura this year (Sono Vincent e non ho paura and Hotel Bonbien), Enne explores the genuine world of children, highlighting the importance of nature, imagination, music, and above all, the difficulty of finding one’s way in the adult world. The books also deal with very important themes such as bullying, the relationships between siblings, friendship, and overcoming imaginary friends.

Koen's conversation was not only compelling and simple to follow (even for the youngest in the audience), but also an opportunity to allow children to engage with the author's native Dutch, in a general approach of discovering differences and similarities. The language barrier disappeared as soon the children started asking questions: what’s your favourite ice cream flavour? When you were little, which was your favourite book? Were you ever scared of the dark? Brilliant moderation by Anselmo Roveda and superb simultaneous translation were the main reasons for great communication, but overall, the language differences only seemed to fuel a mutual desire for understanding.

But the greatest magic happened when the author talked about her 18 year-old son and his friend, who both play in a rock band and inspired some of the characters in one of Koen's stories. The children were amazed: wide-eyed, they started asking a million questions, surprising every adult in the room with their knowledge of rock music and bands like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. No wonder: this music matches their energy towards life.

And who knows? Maybe next year Enne will partner with her son’s band for her literary event!