Uprooted. It is with this term that the author Mario Desiati and the illustrator Giacomo Bevilacqua describe people who feel they are somehow outside of the box, removed from the standard way of living. In conversation with Espérance Hakuzwimana Ripanti, the two authors explained the difference between roots and origins: the former represent substance, something that keeps us where we are; the latter symbolizes entity, something that stays with us even if we move. The characters of Desiati and Bevilacqua are young teenagers who want to escape the rigidity of ordinary life and implement a strong detachment from their roots. In Sradicati, Desiati’s most recent novel, Claudia and Francesco are two adolescents who share a journey of self-discovery. Their relationship will strengthen throughout the story thanks to the truth, seen as being true to oneself in front of the other. They try together to escape, through their imagination, their readings and their search for happiness.

Bevilacqua then talked about his new graphic novel, Troppo facile amarti in vacanza, and presented the female protagonist of the story, Linda. As Bevilacqua said, Linda is strongly linked to Claudia and Francesco, as she is on a constant search for something better, for the next step in her life. Linda’s strongest trait is her rage, a perpetual drive towards change. Bevilacqua and Desiati ended the event sharing the feeling that the three characters embody the daily struggle of modern teenagers in their search for personal identity and for an escape from their roots which too often keep them anchored in a reality they don’t want to be in.