Mantua, 13 September 2015 - It's always an incredible pleasure to play a part in sharing culture, even after twenty years.

This year's Festivaletteratura was more like a workshop than ever before: the public - who, as usual, were also packed into meetings with a huge variety of ideas, projects and designs that were on show. Each year in Mantua is different, something that the organisers always wish to maintain, because there is no exact formula to Festivaletteratura, there is no reproduction. There is much more to it than a series of meetings between authors and readers. And that's because, at its core, there is a common, shared desire to experience culture by getting involved even more than before, from a sense of commitment, civic sense: by thinking, rethinking, daring. But we mustn’t forget celebration. That was the intention of the Organising Committee in light of next year, as Festivaletteratura turns 20.

This sense of celebration is clear from the postcards released for next year’s Festival. There are twenty different postcards featuring images of readers, authors, festivalgoers and volunteers taken over the past twenty years.

Festivaletteratura XX will take place between 7 and 11 September 2016. There were over 67,000 tickets sold for this year’s Festival and in excess of 58,000 spectators at the free events, meaning a total of 125,000 attendees. The official Festival app was downloaded in huge numbers and the website saw a 25% rise in page views. Thousands also took part virtually in the Festival through social networks with 750,000 interacting through Facebook and over 200,000 through Twitter.