Igiaba Scego

Igiaba Scego (Rome, 1974) is the daughter of Somali parents who emigrated to Italy after the 1969 coup, the author of novels, short stories, anthologies and an authoritative voice in prestigious national publications (La Stampa, Internazionale). She has a degree in foreign literature and a doctorate in pedagogy, and is involved in research on transculturality and migration. Her writing investigates the relationship between the cultures of belonging and of origin, with broad autobiographical references, such as in Cassandra a Mogadiscio (Bompiani, 2023), among the Strega Award final dozen. The novel – an unforgettable stylistic tour-de-force in which the Italian language is enriched by Somali – interweaves themes of the diasporic family, the search for origins and uprooting. Latest work translated to German: Kassandra in Mogadischu (Fischer, 2024).