We Want the Moon

Covid-19 has shaken our sense of certainty to its very core, catapulting the world into a limbo from which - even now - it is hard to know when will be able to escape. In this state of suspended animation, the author asked one hundred and forty young people to choose a word they would take with them into the future. Because, after every catastrophe, it is not only the "external" world that begins to fall apart, but also our "internal" universe - that populated by people and words. While adults grapple with lockdowns, green passes and vaccines, young people hang on to their dreams, wishes and hopes for a future that we all play a role in writing. Today. Not tomorrow. Showing, once again, that we have more to give. "Vogliamo la luna" is an ABC of more than a hundred words chosen by young people aged between eleven and eighteen from all over Italy, from A for abbraccio, or embrace (that physical contact that the pandemic has so cruelly taken away from us) to Z, for those who start from the end. Every single young person wanted to leave their own word, expressing their unique and authentic voice. This book is a catalogue of dreams, "a letter to posterity" of poems, diary pages, imaginary speeches or letters to friends. "They scoured the depths and then resurfaced, feeling like castaways who had taken just a few things with them in preparation for the uncertainties of tomorrow: just the fundamentals."   Vogliamo la luna. Il futuro raccontato dalle ragazze e dai ragazzi di Daniela Palumbo Edizioni Piemme-Il Battello a Vapore, 2021