A land of writers uniting in the name of Nobel Prize-winning author Grazia Deledda. 2026 will mark the centenary of the award, and the 17th edition of the national literary prize named after her will be held on Friday at 5:30 pm at the Lilliu Auditorium at the ISRE in Nuoro.
Among the special prizes: Andrea Camilleri (Fiction), Maria Giacobbe (Fiction), Marino Moretti (non-fiction), Giuseppe Dessì (non-fiction).
The following will receive awards: Umberto Galimberti for his Nonfiction work with The Misadventures of Truth, and a Lifetime Achievement Award; Giovanni Pirodda for his special prize from the "La Rinascita" Foundation; Gianni Caria for his "Rosario Va in Pension" (Maestrale, 2025); Piero Dorfles for his "Words of the Sea" (Sellerio Editore Palermo, 2025); Giuliano Vigini for his "Sin and Grace: Literature and Catholicism in 20th-Century France" (Bibliotheka, 2025); Alessandro Aresu for his "Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence" (Feltrinelli, 2024); and Massimo Recalcati for his "Light and the Wave: What Does Teaching Mean?" (Einaudi, 2025), Carlo Rovelli with "On the Equality of All Things" (Adelphi, 2025), Eugenia Tognotti with "Of Courage and Passion. The Adventurous Story of Adelasia Cocco, the First Female Doctor in Contemporary Italy (1914-1954)" (FrancoAngeli, 2025). For Fiction: Andrea Bajani with "The Anniversary" (Feltrinelli, 2025), Francesco Abate with "The Unworthy" (Einaudi, 2025), Alberto Capitta with "The Shepherdess" (Maestrale, 2025), Gianrico Carofiglio with "The Horizon of the Night" (Einaudi, 2024), Helena Janeczek with "The Time of the Unexpected" (Guanda, 2024), Melania Gaia Mazzucco with "Silence. The Seven Lives of Diana Karenne" (Einaudi, 2024), Roberto Saviano with "My Love Never Dies" (Einaudi, 2025), Nadia Terranova with "What I Know About You" (Guanda, 2025), Sandro Veronesi with "Black September" (La nave di Teseo, 2024). Also present: Alessandra Cattani with "Grazia Deledda and Russia. Literary and Linguistic Reflections" (FrancoAngeli, 2023), and Davide Barella with "Grazia Deledda. The Years of the Ligurian Riviera" (Catartica, 2025). Speakers will include Emiliano Fenu, the mayor of Nuoro; Natascia Demurtas, the city councilor for culture; Stefano Lavra, the president of the Regional Higher Institute of Ethnography; Giuseppe Ciccolini, the president of the Aldo Maria Morace Prize's narrative committee; Attilio Mastino, the rector emeritus of the University of Sassari; and university professors Dino Manca, Alessandra Cattani, Simone Pisano, and Francesco Delpiano. Cervia mayor Mattia Missiroli and Luca Saba of the Deledda Foundation will be livestreaming. The Eufonia Choir of Gavoi, directed by Mauro Lisei, will perform "The Mirror," based on Deledda's short story "The Hidden Source," with Luca Lobina and Ludovica Cadeddu. Introduced by Antonio Rojch.
