The opening event of the Shelley Project 2026 will be held on March 21st at 5:00 PM at the San Romano Auditorium in Lucca. The lecture-performance "Mary: The Girl Among the Titans - Frankenstein and the Dream of Writing," curated by Professor Roberta Ferrari of the University of Pisa, will feature artistic performances by Anonima Teatranti and the Società di Danza – Circolo di Lucca.
Professor Ferrari, an expert in English literature and a popularizer of Romanticism and the figure of Mary Shelley, will take us on a fantastical journey through places, thoughts, and poetry. The story of Mary Shelley's passage through our region will be interspersed with moments of theater, song, and historical dance.
This will also be the occasion for the presentation of the 2026 Shelley Project edition by artistic director Stefano Nannizzi, with the full program of the Fantastic Writing Contest and collateral events, and to enjoy a preview of the new documentary film produced by Neon Film & Arts and directed by Stefano Cosimini and Agua Amaranta Nannizzi.
During the evening, the winners of the New Writers and School 2025 categories will also be announced, along with the selection of stories for the second Shelley Project anthology, "Ogni Svelato Riflesso," to be published by NPS Edizioni in summer 2026.
The Shelley Project 2025 Awards Ceremony will follow, attended by the authorities and partners supporting the project. Loga Studio, organizer of the Shelley Project, extends its thanks to the sponsoring organizations, which will be represented by representatives: the Region of Tuscany, the Province of Lucca, the Province of Pisa, the Municipality of Lucca, the Municipality of Bagni di Lucca, the Municipality of Capannori, the Municipality of Viareggio, the Municipality of San Giuliano Terme, and the Municipality of Vicopisano; its partners: the Ministry of Education and Merit – Regional School Office, the University of Pisa – Department of Philology, Literature, and Linguistics, Villa Reale di Marlia, Lucca Crea, Lucca Comics & Games, QN La Nazione (official media partner); and those who continue to support the project: the Regional Council of Tuscany, the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation, and the Banca del Monte di Lucca Foundation.
The genesis of the Shelley Project is rooted in the desire to revive the legendary literary challenge that took place at Villa Diodati, formerly Villa Belle Rive, in Cologny, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, in the summer of 1816 between friends Lord George Gordon Byron, his doctor John William Polidori and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, together with his future wife Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her stepsister Claire Clairmont: each of them would write their own horror story and then compete against each other on the following evenings.