Michela Murgia (born 3 June 1972) is an Italian novelist, playwright and radio personality. She is a winner of the
Premio Campiello
The ''Premio Campiello'' is an annual Italian literary prize.
A Jury of Literary Experts (''Giuria di letterati'' in Italian) identifies books published during the year and, in a public hearing, selects five of those as finalists. These books ar ...
and the
Mondello International Literary Prize.
Biography
Michela Murgia was born in
Cabras, Sardinia
Cabras ( sc, Crabas) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about northwest of Cagliari and about northwest of Oristano.
Cabras borders the following municipalities: Nurachi, Orist ...
on 3 June 1972. At the age of 18, she was taken in by her adoptive family as a ''filla de anima'', a soul-child, a traditional Sardinian adoption. In contrast to the usual age of between 10 and 14 years, Murgia's adoption was delayed because of her natural father's opposition.
Murgia attended the Lorenzo Mossa Oristano institute for technical studies, and then joined the Institute of Religious Studies of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oristano
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oristano ( la, Archidioecesis Arborensis) is a metropolitan see of the Roman Catholic Church in Sardinia, Italy. It was created in the eleventh century. Its only suffragan is the Diocese of Ales-Terralba.
Since ...
to study theology.
Murgia taught religious studies at middle and grammar schools in Oristano for six years but never finished her studies.
Career
Literary
Michela Murgia's first work, ''Il mondo deve sapere'', was published in 2006. This was a satire on the telemarketing call centre, highlighting the economic exploitation and
psychological manipulation
Manipulation in psychology is a behavior designed to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage. Definitions for the term vary in which behavior is specifically included, influenced by both culture and whether referring t ...
of its workers. The book was dramatised for the stage by
David Emmer and starred
Teresa Saponangelo
Teresa Saponangelo (born 22 October 1973) is an Italian film, television and stage actress.
Life and career
Born in Taranto, Saponangelo is the daughter of a workman and a housewife. Her father died when she was two years old, and in 1976 she ...
. It was also filmed by
Paolo Virzì
Paolo Virzì (; born 4 March 1964) is an Italian film director, writer and producer.
Early life and work
Virzì was born in Livorno, Italy in 1964, as the son of a Sicily#Demographics, Sicilian police officer in the Carabinieri and a former sin ...
, and released in 2008 as ''
Tutta la vita davanti''.
[
In 2008, Murgia wrote a travel book on her native Sardinia, ''Viaggio in Sardegna''.
Murgia's 2009 novel, ''Accabadora'', gained several awards including the Mondello International Literary Prize and the Molinello Award for First Fiction.]
''L'incontro'', a novella, appeared in 2012.
In 2013, Murgia co-authored a book titled ''L'ho uccisa perché l'amavo’. Falso!'' with Loredana Lipperini, which tackled the issues of violence on women in Italy.
In 2016, Murgia published "Chirú," a novel about a cross generational mentoring relationship.
Columnist
She writes for L'Espresso
''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media.
History and profile
One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...
; her column, which began in January 2021, is titled "L'Antitaliana" ("the anti-Italian").
Actress
She performed in Quasi Grazia, a Play by Marcello Fois, as Grazia Deledda
Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda (; 27 September 1871 – 15 August 1936), also known in Sardinian language as Gràssia or Gràtzia Deledda (), was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 "for her idealistically ...
.
Political
In the regional elections of February 2014, she stood as a candidate as part of the ''Possible Sardinia'' coalition, which aimed to achieve Sardinian independence via the ballot, similar to the Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
and the Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
referendums of 2014.[ Murgia did not get a seat; she came third in the polls, gaining 10% of the vote.]
Awards and honours
Murgia is a member of the ''Società Italiana delle Letterate''.[
* 2010 - ]Premio Campiello
The ''Premio Campiello'' is an annual Italian literary prize.
A Jury of Literary Experts (''Giuria di letterati'' in Italian) identifies books published during the year and, in a public hearing, selects five of those as finalists. These books ar ...
* 2010 - Premio Mondello
The Mondello Prize (Italian: Premio Mondello or Premio letterario internazionale Mondello Città di Palermo) is an Italian literary award established in 1975.
History
The award was founded by a group of Palermo intellectuals and academics, and was ...
* 2009 - Premio Dessì
The and its twin the are sedans sold in Japan from 2001 to 2021 by Toyota. The sedans are designated as a compact car by Japanese dimension regulations and the exterior dimensions do not change with periodic updates. Unlike Toyota's other v ...
Bibliography
Novels
* ''Il mondo deve sapere: Romanzo tragicomico di una telefonista precaria'' (Milan: Edizioni, 2006)
* ''Accabadora'' (Turin: Einaudi, 2009)
* ''L'Incontro'' (Turin: Einaudi, 2012)
Non-fiction
* ''Viaggio in Sardegna: Undici percorsi nell'isola che non si vede'' (Turin: Einaudi, 2008)
* ''‘L'ho uccisa perché l'amavo’ : Falso!'' (with Loredana Lipperini) (Bari: Laterza, 2013)
* ''‘#Stai zitta e altre nove frasi che non vogliamo sentire più'' (Einaudi, 2021)
Works in English
* ''Accabadora'' (Translated by Sylvester Mazzarella, Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2012)
* ''How to be a fascist : a manual'', New York : Penguin Books, 2020.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murgia, Michela
1972 births
Living people
People from the Province of Oristano
21st-century Italian novelists
Italian non-fiction writers
Sardinian nationalists
Italian women novelists
21st-century Italian women writers
Premio Campiello winners
Sardinian women
21st-century Italian women politicians
Sardinian independence activists