Next Wednesday, June 10, the Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid (Calle Mayor, 86) will host, at 6:30 p.m., the fourth meeting in its series of talks dedicated to exploring the Jewish influence on 20th-century Italian literature, led by Rabbi Pierpaolo Pinhas Punturello. The event will focus on the novel “Anime” by Roy Chen.
“Anime” (2022)
It would be wonderful to live many lives, to be reincarnated in many souls, and to travel through history. The dream of many, but not of Grisha, whose life has stretched on for four hundred years. You read that right: Grisha is reincarnated. He travels from century to century, from body to body, dying and being reborn in an endless metamorphosis. Anime (Giuntina), Neshamot in its original title, is a novel suspended between dream and reality, and its author, Roy Chen, an Israeli writer, is a true master of storytelling in this original and captivating tale, where time dilates and the reader is lost in enchanted worlds where reincarnation becomes the grand metaphor for change.
Roy Chen is an Israeli writer, translator, and playwright. His paternal family arrived in Palestine in 1492 after the expulsion from Spain; his maternal family came from Morocco and arrived in the 20th century. Born in Tel Aviv in 1980, he grew up with a grandfather who was a jeweler and a grandmother who was a polyglot flight attendant, another grandfather who was a fisherman, and a grandmother who was illiterate but an expert in the ancient wisdom of the heart. In his youth, as part of a personal identity rebellion, Roy dropped out of school and taught himself Russian. Over the years, he became a translator of classical literature from Russian into Hebrew. He has translated Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Bunin, Charms, and many others. At nineteen, he began working in theater. Since 2007, he has been the resident playwright at Gesher Theater, one of Israel’s leading theaters. His works include the novel *Anime*, a Sapir Literature Prize nominee in 2020 (2022), *Il grande frastuono* (2025), and the play *Chi come me* (2024). A recipient of numerous awards, his work is known for its writing style akin to magical realism.
Reservations are required and can be made by writing to biblioteca.iicmadrid@esteri.it, including the full name and phone number of each person for whom the reservation is being requested, and writing “Circolo dei Lettori 10/06” in the subject line. Registered participants will receive a few pages of the text before the event.