LA BACCANTE
The Women's Fiction Festival's literary prize is called 'La Baccante', after the female worshippers of Dionysus. Each year, Harlequin Mondadori, the promoter of the Festival, awards a literary prize to an author or publishing professional of international repute. This year, the Women's Fiction Festival is awarding this prize for Lifetime Achievement to Inge Feltrinelli, for her unswerving support of women's fiction in Italy and throughout the world, in acknowledgement of the leading role both she and her publishing house has played in the support and promotion of women's fiction over the past fifty years of publishing the finest works of literature.
The 'La Baccante' prize is a gold jewel crafted by a talented local artist.

The winner of the '2005 La Baccante Prize' is
INGE SCHOENTAL FELTRINELLI

Inge Feltreinelli was born and grew up in Germany. Before moving to Milan in 1960, she was a photojournalist who interviewed, amongst others, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Simone de Beauvoir. In 1969, Inge Feltreinelli became vice President of the Giangiacomo Feltreinelli Editore publishing company, founded in 1955 by Giangiacomo Feltreinelli and in 1972 she became President of the company. After the death of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in 1972, Inge Feltrinelli continued his work, concentrating on international relations to promote Italian authors abroad and to bring the finest in world literature to Italy. Ms. Feltrinelli's special project was the establishment of 95 new bookstores all over Italy. Inge Feltrinelli became Vice President of the 'Librerie Feltrinelli' company, set up in 1998 to manage the bookstores, which separated the publishing company itself from the distribution chain. She is also a Board Member of the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation and member of the Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri School for Bookseller's Promotion Committee. She has received numerous awards for her distinguished work in the promotion of culture. She was appointed a 'Chévalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française? And a 'Cavaliere dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana'. In 1991 she received an honorary degree in Education from the University of Ferrara. In 1996, she became an honorary member of the Accademia di Brera in Milan. In 1999, Inge Feltrinelli was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2002 she receied the title of Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture. In 2004, the IULM School of Languages and Communication in Milan bestowed an honorary degree in Foreign Languages and Literature on her.

- La Baccante 2004

In Greek mythology, the Bacchantes represented wild, mystical, uncontrolled and ferocious rapture , culminating in the practice of cruel rites. The Bacchantes were the priestesses of the cult of Dionysus, the symbol of occult knowledge and - above all - the incarnation of the natural principle of the psyche, instinct. It is indeed that very natural principle which, when released, possesses the spirit and produces art, dance, music and song.
This jewel Bacchante is the embodiment of the exact poetic opposite, and is meant showcase the Bacchante as the symbol of women, highlighting the role of women in culture.
Indeed, is it not part of the very essence of woman, the holder of the secret of life, to be associated with instinct? In my own mind, the Bacchante became not only the custodian of the mysteries of the cult, but also the bearer of the seed, represented by the ogival-shaped stone in the belly, the seed that indeed is already blossoming in the folds of the tunic, turning the woman into a flower, a flower however capable of holding her own life in her hands.
The form of the circlet refers to the classic shape of a travelling mirror.
At the end of a long, personal journal leading to deep knowledge of self and through the prism of art, women reattain their proper place in history.

Lela Campitelli
Goldsmith artist
Laboratorio Materia