Ostana, a municipality of Occitan language and culture in Piedmont, Italy, hosts again the “Ostana Prize: writings in mother tongue” on June 28th, 29th and 30th 2024. We reach the sixteenth edition, we maintain the mission of recognising language diversity, language rights and the world’s biodiversity, which languages contain and preserve.
“Lo fuec es ancà ros dessot la brasa… ” (D. Anghilante – S. Sodano) is the motto that will accompany the Prize this year. It is taken from a song composed in the 1970’s which the songwriter Dajre d’Angel brought around the Occitan Valleys and that would became one of the elements that favoured the awakening of awareness and love towards the Occitan language, which at the moment was dormant.
“The fire still glows beneath the embers” because mother tongues are living beings, not only because they are alive but because they do not want to die, they strive to thrive from generation to generation. Minority and indigenous languages offer unique and irreplaceable visions of the world, elaborating authentic and original thought that stands out strongly when the language allows its creativity to emerge and to start a dialogue with “majority” cultural and linguistic realities.
“The fire still glows beneath the embers” because mother tongues’ work in the shadows is invisible in our day to day life, but it is decisive in every social context, essential in every human experience, significant within every personal and cultural relationship.
UNESCO is well aware of the depth and richness of languages and has proclaimed the International Decade for Indigenous Languages 2022-2032 to bring this into the public eye. The value of the Ostana Prize initiative has been recognised not only by UNESCO but also by important international figures in the field of linguistic diversity, including Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who in 2018 awarded the Ostana Prize the President’s Medal of Representation.
Eight are the categories which structure the artistic programme: Special Prize, International Prize, Historical Linguistic Minorities in Italy Prize, Occitan Language Prize, Youth Prize, Translation Prize, Musical composition Prize, Cinema Prize. Eight categories by eight artists who, accompanied by a tutor, will all be at Ostana on 28-29-30th June together with the public in an atmosphere of exchange and curiosity.
The Ostana Prize is also a fantastic occasion for cultural tourism that combines mountains, architecture, literature, music and cinema in connection with Monviso, the symbolic mountain of the Occitan valleys.
For information:
Email: chambradoc@chambradoc.it | Telephone: 328-3129801