What better way to spend the summer solstice than at a noir fiction festival on the Mediterranean. From Friday 20 to Sunday 22 June, Marina Cafè Noir returns to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. The terrace of the Bastion of Saint Remy is the perfect viewing platform for the city, the bridge over the sea and for whatever crimes are afoot…

This year’s theme is Maps of New Times, as chosen by the Chourmo Cultural Association, which had organised Marina Cafè Noir for more than 20 years. This is the 23rd edition, making it one of the longest running festivals of its kind in Europe.

Among the featured authors attending is the American Nathan Thrall, a journalist with expertise on the Middle East based in Jerusalem. His novel A Day in the Life of Abed Salama (Neri Pozza) won the Pulitzer Prize in 2024 and looks at the ferocious daily life of those who live in the most disputed land on the planet and how people there, deprived of the most elementary rights, try to keep their humanity intact.

On Friday 20 June, you’ll be able to step into a dark, disturbing and sensual fairytale with Scottish author Ali Millar, who will speak about her book Ava Anna Ada – described by Ian Rankin as, “Every bit as gripping as it is horrifying…”

The Taiwanese author Lin Hsin-Hui (Sunday 22 June) will present her novel Intimità senza contatto, on Sunday 22 June, a novel investigating the ambiguous boundaries between human and non-human, and the intersections between literature, technology and ecology.

Italian authors and their presentations will include Giancarlo De Cataldo, the master of crime and the investigative genre who, accompanied by Alberto Ibba, will present Un cadavere in cucina (Einaudi Stile Libero); the Trilogia del Novecento by the great narrator Viola Ardone; the surprising debut by Rosita Manuguerra; a look at conflicts in the world by Francesca Mannocchi; the anthropological sensitivity of Andrea Staid; and the mocking imagination of songwriter Bobo Rondelli. Marina Cafè Noir will also pay tribute to Sergio Atzeni, Emilio Lussu and Andrea Camilleri via a series of original productions that bring books from the page to the stage, in the squares of the city and among the people, thanks to the involvement of the excellence of music and entertainment made in Sardinia.

Find out more and book tickets on the festival website.