Riccardo Muti to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Premio Chiara 2026
The Lifetime Achievement Award at the 38th edition of the Premio Chiara, the literary prize named after writer Piero Chiara, will be presented to conductor Riccardo Muti on Sunday, May 24, at the Teatro Sociale di Luino.
The announcement was made by the Associazione Amici di Piero Chiara, which today unveiled the program of the event, featuring eleven cultural meetings scheduled through May, CE Report quotes ANSA.
Among the guests are Massimo Palazzi, Flavio Caroli, Giuseppe Zanetto, Giulio Guidorizzi, Andrea Vitali, Paolo De Chiesa, Matteo Inzaghi and Piero Dorfles, who will engage in discussions with scholars and journalists.
The meetings, with free admission, range from contemporary and classical literature to sports, from Greek myth to 1980s cinema.
The 2026 edition is the first since the passing of longtime director Bambi Lazzati, who for nearly forty years was the soul of the event. It also coincides with the 40th anniversary of Piero Chiara’s death; the writer passed away in Varese on December 31, 1986, at the age of 73, and will be commemorated throughout the year with dedicated initiatives.
As for the competitions, the main prize for short story collections published during the year returns; in 2025, it was won by Andrej Longo, who this year chairs the jury of the youth competition, in which participants are invited to write a short story.
In addition to the contest for unpublished short story collections, there are two new features: a writing prize for children aged 12 to 14 and a competition to produce a narrative podcast about Piero Chiara. Another novelty is the signing of an agreement with the Comune di Varese, which will provide the prize with a venue at Palazzo Estense. In the future, the Premio’s home will be in the premises of the emerging cultural hub at Caserma Garibaldi.
