Africa in its many shades, from experimental painting of his brushstrokes of sensations to the deepest lyrical, until the narrative, first with the story Quanza the Matriarch, journey through the universe of the elephants and the hard life of the Savannah (tale that has won third place in Melbourne, Australia, to ALIAS literary contest.), then with Moran (Julian Ladolfi Publisher, pp. 188, € 12), born as a result of the first.
Matilde Calamai, class 79 ', of Prato and Pistoia's origins, is a television presenter, radio presenter and artist (his paintings are exhibited in Italy and New York) with a background in the fashion world, but also a writer who can convey with light and vibrant touch the characters' emotions, reliving and live in the reader that salvaggia nature, cruel, real.
"I think everyone has a place to rest your soul and mine is Kenya. For ten years, and every time I go is always an intense emotion. There is a phrase in Moran who represents me perfectly: in Africa I just remain silent in order to feel alive, here everything bounces does not penetrate, "says Matilde OFF
A place with neither space nor time his Africa where rediscover the homeland and ancestral side of their existence. An experience that sees the protagonist of the story, Alexander, Tuscan painter, to enter the exotic Kenya, where, driven by the search for her missing father, finds himself working as a guard in a kindergarten for elephants and rhinos. He discovers a world of love and unconditional respect for animals, but also intense and overwhelming emotions in Daphne, the woman who runs the farm, and the sincere friendship with Sironka, one of the Masai guards. A land which will remain bound and abducted up to turn into an Moran, a Masai warrior.
Alex seeks his father and finds himself, just as he quoted the words engraved on the wooden sign at the entrance of the farm: "Know yourself and you will know the truth." At the center of the story the illegal ivory sales and poaching in the forests that end up financing terrorist activities in turn fueling wars and devastating conflicts for local people.
A work that is also presented as a social protest by the author towards the violent and indiscriminate barbarism to which victims are elephants and rhinos. There is talk of dangerous armed groups and poachers who kill the animals use powerful weapons like the Kalashnikov, and from which the guards of the parks to protect them must defend themselves. But are cited in particular those people who daily take care of orphaned puppies and accompany them to the age where they can fend for themselves in nature in which they were born. A book that not only brings to light the indiscriminate slaughter of elephants and rhinos, but especially wants to alert the public not to buy ivory jewelry and jewelry in order not to fuel this bloody market.
Africa as a fascinating context of a history of endless landscapes, dances, traditions, and animals that express the inexhaustible energy of a land that puts man in connection with the universe. A plot that intersects on several floors alternating good and evil, rediscovering instincts learning to live the moment and simplicity of small things.
Giulia Cherchi