Strega Prize 2023
The twelve semi-finalists of the 2023 Strega Prize, one of the most prestigious Italian literary prizes, were announced yesterday. Among the 80 titles proposed by the Amici della Domenica , i.e. a sort of mega-jury which every year has the task of proposing the works of fiction more worthy of a mention, the Steering Committee of the award, chaired by the writer Melania G. Mazzucco , has decided which will be the twelve candidates for this second phase, waiting to know which instead will enter the fateful five of the finalists. The twelve will become five starting from 7 June in an event at the Roman Theater in Benevento, and then among these the winner will be announced on 6 July, as usual at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome.Here are the twelve titles selected in this phase:
Silvia Ballestra , The Sibyl. Life of Joyce Lussu (Laterza) Maria Grazia Calandrone , Where you didn't take me (Einaudi) Andrea Canobbio , The night crossing (The ship of Theseus) Ada D'Adamo , Come d'aria (Elliot) Gian Marco Griffi , Mexican Railways (Laurana Editore) Vincenzo Latronico , The perfections (Bompiani) Romana Petri , Stealing the night (Mondadori) Rosella Postorino , I limited myself to loving you (Feltrinelli) Igiaba Scego , Cassandra in Mogadishu (Bompiani) Andrea Tarabbia , The white continent (Bollati Boringhieri ) Maddalena Vaglio Tanet , Returning from the woods (Marsilio) Carmen Verde , Minimal unhappiness (Neri Pozza) Mazzucco commented: “Last year we noticed that the works had been written or completed in the isolation of the pandemic years, which had led to intimate tones and self-confessions. Now the long wave of post-traumatic shock has hit the books. For the most part they are written in the sign of trauma – private, personal, sometimes secret and unspeakable, but also public, historical and collective ”. Giovanni Solimine , president of the Bellonci Foundation, and Stefano Petrocchi , director of the Bellonci Foundation, underline the " bibliodiversity " factor that characterizes the 2023 Strega Prize, with a greater number of female candidates, many newcomers and also many publishers arriving for the first time among the proposals of the Friends of Sunday. Now the 12 authors and authors will leave for a tour of 21 stops around Italy with a foray abroad at an Italian Cultural Institute.
At the same time, the finalists of the Strega Prize have also been announced European, now in its tenth edition and the winner of which will be announced on 21 May at the Circolo dei Lettori in Turin, in collaboration with the Book Fair. These are the foreign titles competing:
Emmanuel Carrère , V13 (Adelphi), translated by Francesco Bergamasco Esther Kinsky , Rombo (Iperborea), translated by Silvia Albesano Andrei Kurkov , L'orecchio di Kiev (Marsilio), translated by Claudia Zonghetti Johanne Lykke Holm , Strega (NN Editore), translated by Andrea Stringhetti Burhan Sönmez , Stone and shadow (nottetempo), translated by Nicola Verderame