Luciana Castellina

Luciana Castellina (Rome, 1929), a journalist and writer with a Law degree from La Sapienza (University of Rome), is one of the most respected figures in the Italian cultural scene. She joined the Italian Communist Party in 1947 and, since then, has been a member of several left-wing organisations. She was a member of the Italian parliament for four terms and a European parliamentarian for twenty years, during which time she was Chair of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media. As an intellectual committed to public debate, she has reflected at length on the crisis of the mass media and the role of culture in European integration. From 1998 to 2003, she was president of “Italia cinema”, an agency promoting Italian films abroad, and she is now honorary president of Cineuropa, the first European portal devoted to cinema and audiovisual productions. Notable among her books are Cinquant’anni d’Europa (Utet, 2007), Eurollywood, Il difficile ingresso della cultura nella costruzione dell’Europa (Edizioni ETS, 2008), La scoperta del mondo (a finalist for the Strega prize) and Siberiana, winner of the 2012 Letterario Vallombrosa Prize. In 2014 she published Guardati dalla mia fame (co-authored with Milena Agus) and, in 2016, Manuale antiretorico dell'Unione Europea. She has been honoured with the title of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and has also been named Comendadora (Commander) of the Argentine Republic.