Centro Pecci Books enters its sixth year of programming, the museum's ongoing series dedicated to books, reading, and critical thinking. Each month, the Centre hosts two or more events featuring authors and thinkers, offering the public an opportunity to reflect on the latest editorial releases and engage with contemporary issues. The series covers a wide range of genres and themes, all united by a common thread: the desire to read and interpret the present through the written word. Centro Pecci Books is also a space for dialogue and connection with the local community, where stories, ideas, and voices intersect.
What does it really mean to be "normal"?
"Normal" is a word we hear constantly, often without stopping to consider its deeper implications. It suggests a standard, a rule, a threshold—but who decides what fits within the norm and what does not?
In her latest book, sociolinguist Vera Gheno critically unpacks the contradictions behind the idea of normality, exposing its arbitrary, fluid, and often discriminatory nature. Drawing from language and social dynamics, the author reflects on how certain norms serve as tools of power, marginalising those who deviate from dominant models: women, migrants, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and others on the social margins.
This is a necessary and timely essay that challenges readers to shift their perspective and recognise that, thankfully, no one is truly normal.
Vera Gheno is a sociolinguist and translator from Hungarian. She collaborated with the Accademia della Crusca for over twenty years and is currently a fixed-term researcher at the University of Florence. Nessun* è normale is her seventeenth book. She also hosts the podcast Amare Parole for Il Post and focuses on digital communication, gender issues, diversity, equity, and inclusion, approached from an intersectional perspective.
