![\"Writer](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Andrea-Bajani-Featured-Image-1000x500.jpg\")
Andrea Bajani is an international writer-in-residence at Rice University and the author of \u201cThe Anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tAndrea Bajani is an international writer-in-residence at Rice University and the author of \u201cThe Anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n
When writer Andrea Bajani<\/a> released his novella, The Anniversary<\/a>, in his native Italy, it caused quite a stir \u2014 and sold quite a few copies on its way to winning Italy’s top literary prize. That\u2019s because it shattered a taboo.<\/p>\n In a country where the idea of family reigns supreme, the story’s narrator slowly works his way through the reasons he decided to never see his parents again. The anniversary in the title refers to him marking ten years since severing those toxic ties \u2014 a period he describes as “the best ten years of my life.”<\/p>\n Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n Bajani admits, the milestone is a bit of a strange anniversary.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone is kind of celebrating this moment where he kind of decided to claim the right to feel safe,\u201d Bajani said. \u201cAnd after ten years he wants to write his version of the family story.\u201d<\/p>\n As the book is released in English, Bajani, who’s an international writer-in-residence at Rice University<\/a>, will take part in a reading and discussion Aug. 24<\/a> alongside novelist Claire Vaye Watkins<\/a> at Houston’s Congregation Emanu El as a part of Inprint’s Margarett Root Brown Reading Series.<\/p>\n In an interview with Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty, Bajani talks about the book, the complicated nature of our relationships with those closest to us, and everyone\u2019s right to feel safe.<\/p>\n Michael Hagerty\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n Writer Andrea Bajani in the studio at Houston Public Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrea Bajani is an international writer-in-residence at Rice University and the author of \u201cThe Anniversary.\u201d When writer Andrea…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1015488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[406294,9971,1022,246,4345,16305,406295,406296,1084,425,406297,27035,16382,358,3187],"class_list":["post-1015487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-andrea-bajani","tag-arts-culture","tag-books","tag-family","tag-houston","tag-houston-matters","tag-inprint","tag-inprint-houston","tag-literature","tag-local","tag-margarett-root-brown-reading-series","tag-michael-hagerty","tag-rice-university","tag-texas","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117135080919972605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Andrea](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Andrea-Bajani-HoustonMatters-1000x663.jpg\")
<\/p>\n