Strega Prize 2023, candidates 80 books: it’s a record. Here are authors and titles

It is a record number of nominations for the 2023 Strega Prize: the Amici della Domenica, as the historical jury of literary recognition is called, proposed 80 fiction books in Italian, published between 1 March 2022 and 28 February 2023, for the LXXVII edition. In 2022 there were 74 nominations. The deadline for submitting the volumes has expired today at 12. It is now up to the Steering Committee of the award – made up of Pietro Abate, Giuseppe D’Avino, Valeria Della Valle, Ernesto Ferrero, Alberto Foschini, Paolo Giordano, Dacia Maraini, Melania G. Mazzucco (president), Gabriele Pedullà, Stefano Petrocchi, Marino Sinibaldi, Antonio Scurati and Giovanni Solimine – choose the 12 titles that will compete in the 2023 edition. Among the nominations, six are books published by Mondadori, where she seems to be the favorite for the selection Romana Petri with “Stealing the night”, presented by Teresa Ciabatti, the latter author who in 2021 remained out of the five with her acclaimed “It looked like beauty”. Four books by Marsilio where Elisa Fuksas could prevail with “Not flowers but good works” presented by the former mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli. Two Einaudi books in the running, including Maria Grazia Calandrone with «Where you didn’t bring me». Three books from the publishing house La nave di Teseo including the debut of the singer-songwriter Ermal Meta «Tomorrow and forever». There are also three Bompiani authors with Vincenzo Latronico («Le perfection») and Igiaba Scego (Cassandra in Mogadishu), presented by Jhumpa Lahiri. Among the favorite candidates there would then be Marcello Fois with «La mia Babele» (Solferino) and above all Rosella Postorino with «I limit myself to loving you» (Feltrinelli), presented by Nicola Lagioia, author fresh from the great success of 2018 with «The tasters », which collected eight prizes including the Campiello. The dozen will be announced on Thursday 30 March in a press conference to be held at the Rome Chamber of Commerce in the Sala del Tempio di Vibia Sabina and Adriano. The announcement of the five finalists will take place on 7 June in Benevento, at the Roman Theater, in the presence of twelve candidates and the public, while the election of the winner will take place on 6 July in the traditional Roman setting of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia.

The list of proposed books

Here is the list of proposed books. Silvia Ballestra, The Sibyl. Life of Joyce Lussu (Laterza), presented by Giuseppe Antonelli. Piero Balzoni, Life of amphibians (Alter Ego), presented by Paolo Di Paolo. Iacopo Barison, Autoficiton (Fandango Libri), presented by Giuseppe Catozzella. Matteo B. Bianchi, The life of those who remain (Mondadori), presented by Paolo Cognetti. Nicoletta Bortolotti, A day and a woman (HarperCollins), presented by Maria Rosa Cutrufelli. Silvia Bottani, Another ending for our story (SEM), presented by Riccardo Cavallero. Davide Buzzi, The Summer of Achilles (Morellini), presented by Marcello Ciccaglioni. Maria Grazia Calandrone, Where you didn’t take me (Einaudi), presented by Franco Buffoni. Olga Campofreda, Good Girls (NN Editore), presented by Gaia Manzini. Andrea Canobbio, The night crossing (The ship of Theseus), presented by Elisabetta Rasy. Maria Castellitto, Menodrama (Marsilio), presented by Serena Vitale. Carlo Cavicchi, He was selling cashew nuts (Minerva Edizioni), presented by Valerio Berruti. Massimo Cecchini, The Child (Neri Pozza), presented by Cesare Milanese. Gaja Cenciarelli, Tomorrow I question (Marsilio), presented by Lorenzo Pavolini. Maura Chiulli, I also loved the earth (Hacca), presented by Raffaele Nigro. Marianna Crasto, The sense of the end (Effequ), presented by Laura Pugno. Ada D’Adamo, Come d’aria (Elliot), presented by Elena Stancanelli. Silvia Dai Pra’, Suspended judgments (Mondadori), presented by Sergio De Santis. Gianfranco Di Fiore, Useless love (Wojtek), presented by Valeria Parrella. Raffaele Donnarumma, The hidden life (The branch and the leaf), presented by Paolo Ruffilli. Alessandra Fagioli, Mystery in the mirror (Robin Editore), presented by Paolo Ferruzzi. Roberto Ferrucci, Stories that happen (People), presented by Tiziano Scarpa. Patrick Fogli, Thus on earth (Mondadori), presented by Antonella Cilento. Marcello Fois, My Babel (Solferino), presented by Elisabetta Mondello. Elisa Fuksas, Not flowers but good works (Marsilio), presented by Francesco Rutelli. Sara Gamberini, Infinito Moonlit (NN Editore), presented by Chiara Gamberale. Daniela Gambino, Two out of place (Jack Edizioni), presented by Fulvio Abbate. Camilla Ghiotto, Tempesta (Salani), presented by Alberto Galla. Irene Graziosi, The profile of the other (E/O), presented by Simonetta Fiori. Giovanni Greco, Burning alone. A night by Nadja Mandelstam with her ghosts (Ponte alle Grazie), presented by Francesco Maselli. Michele Greco, In good hands (Scalpendi), presented by Luca De Gennaro. Gian Marco Griffi, Mexican Railways (Laurana Editore), presented by Alessandro Barbero. Sandro Gros-Pietro, Totocælo (Genesis), presented by Corrado Calabrò. Francesca Guercio, Pop dystopia (Alessandro Polidoro Editore), presented by Angelo Piero Cappello. Laura Imai Messina, The island of heartbeats (Piemme), presented by Antonio Pascale. Vincenzo Latronico, The perfections (Bompiani), presented by Simonetta Sciandivasci. Maria Malucelli, Hidden Love (Armando Editore), presented by Antonio Augenti. Flaminia Marinaro, The last diva (Fazi), presented by Ignazio Marino. Sebastiano Martini, The sea of ​​illusions (Arkadia), presented by Giovanni Pacchiano. Laura Marzi, The alternative matter (Mondadori), presented by Veronica Raimo. Sapo Matteucci, For futile reasons (The Ship of Theseus), presented by Filippo Bologna. Paolo Mazzarello, The mill of Leibniz (Neri Pozza), presented by Gian Arturo Ferrari. Elena Mearini, Body to body (Arkadia), presented by Ilaria Catastini. Matteo Melchiorre, The Duke (Einaudi), presented by Marco Balzano. Ermal Meta, Tomorrow and forever (The ship of Theseus), presented by Furio Colombo. Renato Minore and Francesca Pansa, Ennio the alien. The days of Flaiano (Mondadori), presented by Raffaele Manica. Elvira Mujčić, Good conduct (Crocetti), presented by Gad Lerner. Francesco Musolino, rough seas (E/W), presented by Luca Ricci. Sacha Naspini, Villa del Seminario (E/O), presented by Paolo Petroni. Giorgio Nisini, Aurora (HarperCollins), presented by Massimo Onofri. Ilaria Palomba, Empty (Les Flâneurs Edizioni), presented by Maria Cristina Donnarumma. Monica Perosino, The snow of Mariupol (Paesi Edizioni), presented by Vito Bruschini. Romana Petri, Stealing the night (Mondadori), presented by Teresa Ciabatti. Anna Luisa Pignatelli, The field of Gosto (Fazi), presented by Alessandro Masi. Tommaso Pincio, Diary of a Martian summer (Giulio Perrone Editore), presented by Nadia Terranova. Sofia Pirandello, Beasts (Round Robin Editrice), presented by Umberto Croppi. Rosella Postorino, I limited myself to loving you (Feltrinelli), presented by Nicola Lagioia. Rossella Pretto, The reckless life (Scientific Editorial), presented by Wanda Marasco. Stefano Redaelli, Shadow never again (Neo Edizioni), presented by Daniele Mencarelli. Alessandro Riello, Crime on the break (Pellegrini), presented by Clemente Mastella. Sandra Rizza, None excluded (Ianieri), presented by Alfonso Celotto. Luisa Ruggio, Confidences (Besa muci), presented by Diego Guida. Lodovica San Guedoro, Sacred Profane Love (Les Flâneurs Edizioni), presented by Franco Cardini. Giacomo Sartori, Physics of separations in eight movements (Exòrma), presented by Filippo La Porta. Igiaba Scego, Cassandra in Mogadishu (Bompiani), presented by Jhumpa Lahiri. Alberto Schiavone, I don’t exist (Edizioni Clichy), presented by Annalena Benini. Carmela Scotti, Of our best (Garzanti), presented by Chiara Sbarigia. Andreea Simionel, Evil in the East (Italo Svevo), presented by Gioacchino De Chirico. Ezio Sinigaglia, Reverse Syllabary (TerraRossa), presented by Lorenza Foschini. Ada Sirente, Dura mater (Miraggi Edizioni), presented by Maria Teresa Carbone. Andrea Tarabbia, The White Continent (Bollati Boringhieri), presented by Daria Bignardi. Simonetta Tassinari, Donna Fortuna and her loves (Corbaccio), presented by Marcello Rotili. Domenico Tomassetti, A life like yours (Bertoni Editore), presented by Giulio Marcon. Piero Trellini, L’Affaire. All the men of the Dreyfus case (Bompiani), presented by Massimo Raffaeli. Valeria Tron, The balance of fireflies (Salani), presented by Vivian Lamarque. Maddalena Vaglio Tanet, Returning from the woods (Marsilio), presented by Lia Levi. Francesca Veltri, Malapace (Miraggi Edizioni), presented by Laura Massacra. Carmen Verde, Minimal unhappiness (Neri Pozza), presented by Leonardo Colombati. Roberta Zanzonico, The remaining beauty (Morellini), presented by Giulia Ciarapica. Michele Zatta, Maybe another (Arkadia), presented by Maria Pia Ammirati.