Benjamin Lefebvre
I’m thrilled to announce that La musica di Dale, an Italian edition of In the Key of Dale translated by Silvia Mercurio, is now available from Gallucci. I’m including the delightfully Heartstopperish cover here, and you can read a sample from Gallucci’s Issuu account.
Here’s the back cover copy as it appears in Italian:
Dale Cardigan ha sedici anni ed è un genio della musica. È orfano di padre e da un po’ ha capito di essere gay, ma il problema principale della sua vita non è tanto questo, quanto la timidezza e l’incapacità di stringere vere amicizie. Gli unici momenti in cui non ha paura di farsi vedere dagli altri per com’è veramente sono quando suona o canta, ed è proprio in una di queste occasioni che Rusty si accorge di lui. È l’inizio di un’amicizia o di qualcosa di più? A Dale in realtà non importa. L’unica cosa che conta sono le sensazioni che prova quando è insieme a Rusty, quelle che pensava solo la musica potesse regalargli: leggerezza, appagamento, felicità. E più di ogni altra cosa: libertà.
I was curious about how the Italian translator had summarized the plot of the novel, and thanks to Google Translate, the fact that I don’t understand Italian turned out to be a minimal problem:
Dale Cardigan is sixteen years old and a musical genius. He is an orphan of a father and for some years he has realized that he is gay, but the main problem of his life is not so much his sexual orientation, but his shyness and inability to make true friendships. The only moments in which he isn’t afraid to be seen by others as he really is are when he plays or sings, and it is on one of these occasions that Rusty notices him. Is it the beginning of a friendship or something more? Dale doesn’t really care. The only thing that matters to him are the feelings he feels when he’s with Rusty, the ones he thought only music could give him: lightness, contentment, happiness. And most of all: freedom.
The Italian edition is available in paperback and ebook formats. It can be purchased directly from the publisher or from bookshops such as Amazon (Italy), Giunti al Punto, LaFeltrinelli, and Mondadori Store.
Thanks to the fine folks at Arsenal Pulp Press (Vancouver) and at Otago Literary Agency (Bologna) for making this happen!
Gallucci is also the publisher, in two volumes, of the Italian translation (by Angela Ricci) of my edition of L.M. Montgomery’s The Blythes Are Quoted, which appeared as Racconti dall’isola: Prima della guerra [Stories from the Island: Before the War] and Racconti dall’isola: Dopo la guerra [Stories from the Island: After the War] in 2021.
![[ID: Event info text on the left-half of the image and a skewed mockup image of the book’s front cover on the right-half, all overlaying a pale red background with lighter coloured brush strokes texture. Text alternates between a bold red and a dark indigo, which match the colours of the book, and essentially reads, “Words Worth Books presents _In the Key of Dale_ a book launch and reading with Benjamin Lefebvre. Saturday, October 15, 2:00 PM ET, Trillium Lutheran Church, 22 Willow St, Waterloo, ON. Join us to celebrate the release of Benjamin Lefebvre’s pitch-perfect YA novel, _In the Key of Dale_! Books available for purchase.” Surrounding the text are three illustrated musical note graphics, and underneath are the logos for Words Worth Books and Arsenal Pulp Press, along with the URL “wordsworthbooks.com”. On the book mockup is a pale red and white circular sticker-like graphic that reads “FREE EVENT”. In the top-right is a review blurb excerpt that reads, “By turns snarkily funny and wrenchingly poignant, Benjamin Lefebvre’s debut novel is a pitch-perfect paean to the geeks, loners and musical prodigies you knew—or were—in high school. —C.E. GATCHALIAN, author of _Double Melancholy: Art, Beauty, and the Making of a Brown Queer Man_”. Book cover ID: Three graphic red piano keys take up the full width and height of the cover. The black keys and spaces between the red keys are dark purple. The words “In the Key of” are stacked on the middle key. The word "Dale" is in large handwritten letters across the full width of the book. The author's name is in dark purple below the title, stacked in the middle key. /end ID] (Alt text provided by Arsenal Pulp Press)](https://benjaminlefebvre.com/wp-content/uploads/In-the-Key-of-Dale-Waterloo-IG-post-v1-1024x1024.png)
