24 May-24 June 2005. A relatively recent but increasingly (and rightly so) successful festival that sees an impressive line-up of internationally known writers read from their work on the magnificent stage at the Basilica di Massenzio. Last year there was a full house at almost every reading. This years edition the fourth presents two authors per evening who will read from yet unpublished work. The theme is Fear and Hope and each performance is accompanied or backed up by a musical intermezzo. Opening the festival this year is Salman Rushdie (24 May) followed by Antonio Skarmeta and Andrej Makine (27 May); then it is the turn of Ali Smith and David Leavitt (31 May); and the first and only duo of Italian writers Ugo Riccarelli and Daniele De Giudice (3 June). Other big names coming up are those of Amitav Ghosh, Javier Marias, Amos Oz, Muriel Spark and Michael Faber, but the programme also includes a handful of young talents such as Hitomi Kanehara, Natasha Radojcic-Kane, Jonathan Safran Foer. Tickets are free but must be picked up an hour or so before the performance in front of the entrance to the Basilica di Massenzio in Via dei Fori Imperiali.