Italian literary prizewinners 2022

As the year 2022 draws to a close we take a look at the Italian literary prizes awarded during the course of the year.

Strega prize 2022:

This was awarded to Mario Desiati for his novel Spatriati. This psychological novel, or coming-of-age story, can be found in the UL at C217.c.3730.

Bagutta prize 2022:

The Bagutta prize is not restricted to any particular literary genre. This year it was awarded to Benedetta Craveri for her work La contessa, a biography of Virginia Verasis di Castiglione, a cousin of Count Camillo di Cavour.

Italian literary prizewinners 2021

It is autumn and time to take stock of the major literary prizes awarded in Italy this past year.

The Strega prize for 2021 was awarded to Emanuele Trevi for his novel Due vite (held in the UL, C206.d.4499).

The Bancarella prize was awarded to Ema Stokholma for her autobiographical novel Per il mio bene (held in the UL, C206.d.7547).

The Campiello prize was awarded to Giulio Caminito for his novel L’acqua del lago non è mai dolce (held in the UL, C206.d.7514).

Italian literary prizewinners 2020

It seems odd thinking about literary prizes and awards at the moment, since awards conjure up images of presentations, speeches and joy. But many, many people have turned to reading for comfort and intellectual stimulation during the recurrent lockdowns. The giving and receiving of literary awards remains, as ever, important to readers and encouraging to authors. In Italy, despite a very difficult year, the major literary prizes were adjudicated and the following awards were made:

Andrea Camilleri

By Marco Tambara via Wikimedia Commons

We were saddened to hear of the death of Andrea Camilleri, aged 93, one of Italy’s best-loved authors. For so many readers he had brought Sicily to life, capturing the difficult social problems of the island with affection and humour.

In 2014 we posted on this blog a piece to celebrate his Montalbano series. Since then we have continued to acquire further works in the series, the most recent being:

Italian literary prizewinners for 2018-19

We highlighted last autumn the winner of the prestigious Strega prize, one of the most important literary prizes awarded in Italy. It was won for the first time in 15 years by a woman – Helena Janeczek for her novel La ragazza con la Laica (C213.c.6240).

The other four major literary prizes that we focus on were awarded in the last 12 months as follows: