Dacia Maraini

Author of a great deal of novels, short stories, poems, essays and plays (published in Italian by Rizzoli), which have been translated in more than twenty countries. She is a one of the key figures of Italian culture today and an outstanding voice in the country’s contemporary literature scene. Her concerns include women’s social and historical issues and many other social questions. She was awarded the 1990 Campiello Prize and the 1999 Strega de Buio Prize for her book La lunga vita di Marianna Ucria (published in English as The Silent Duchess and in Spanish as Larga vida de Marianna Ucria, Seix Barral, 1995). Notable among her recent works translated into Spanish are Il treno dell’ultima notte (El tren de la última noche, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2012 – published in English as Train to Budapest), Bagheria (Minúscula, 2013), a novel about the Sicilian town of the same name, and L’amore rubato (Stolen Love, published in Spanish as Amor robado, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2013). In 2010, she received a Doctor Honoris Causa degree from the University of Foggia and among her other awards is the 2012 Fondazione Campiello Prize, in recognition of her work as a whole.

As a very active member of literary circles in Rome, she met Pier Paolo Pasolini who, besides working with her on several projects, for example their joint authorship of the script for the film Arabian Nights, was soon to become a close friend.