Valentina Acava'' is a writer, educator and artivist. She is an outspoken advocate to end

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

(FGM) using artistic and educational Workshops. She was born into Italian and Greek parents and was raised in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She is the founder of Creative Encounters, an artistic platform for artists in East Africa. Valentina acava author

She started her career as a journalist corresponding from different African countries. She has published 11 books,WorldCat author page
/ref> including children's books, novels, and poetry. ''Io... donna... immigrata...'' (I...immigrant...woman...) is a play that has been staged in Italy, France, Congo, Kenya, South Africa. ''The Cut'' is the final work produced out of the Gugu Women Lab, a collective of women from South Africa and other African countries founded in Cape Town in 2011. It is based on the true experience of some of the participants who have undergone female genital mutilation. The performance has been on stage in 2013 in Italy and in the early days of 2014 received the sponsorship o
Amnesty International Italia
for its value in promoting awareness on female genital mutilation using art. A selection of her stories was published in 2013 on the 2nd issue o
''Italian Studies of Southern Africa Journal''
(UNISA - Pretoria 2013). She has represented South Africa, along with other writers from the Africa Continent, at the International

Grinzane Cavour Grinzane Cavour is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo. Grinzane Cavour borders the municipalities of Alba and Diano d'Alba. Original ...

Meeting "Il deserto e dopo. La letteratura africana dall’oralità alla parola scritta” in 2007. Her novel ''Cercando Lindiwe'' was chosen by Prof. Antonella Piazza of the Department of Italian Studies of UNISA-Pretoria for her comparatistic work: "The issue of Identity in ''Cercando Lindiwe'' by Valentina Acava Mmaka and ''If This Is a Man'' by Primo Levi" which was presented for the first time in occasion of the 1st Colloquium of Italian Studies at UNISA/Pretoria in September 2011. She is the founder of the Social Change Program ''Invisible Cities'' which aims to upgrade marginalized neighborhoods using art to make impact and create social change. She has nearly 20 years of experience working with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in different countries. She speaks at international meetings, universities, and conferences. Her monologue "Farida" has been published in the collection ''Time to say NO'', edited by Philo Ikonya and Helmuth Niederle by Austrian PEN Club.

Publications

Children's books

*''Il mondo a colori della famiglia BwanaVal'' (Kabiliana 2002) *''Jabuni il mistero della città sommersa'' (EMI 2003) *''I nomi della Pace Amani'' (EMI 2004) *''Le Fantastiche Storie di Ortensia'' (KabilianaPress 2016) *''La Storia di Selma'' (KabilianaPress 2016)

Novels

*''Cercando Lindiwe'' (Epoché 2007- KabilianaPress 2014) * ''Il Viaggio Capovolto'' (Epoché 2010)

Theatre

* ''Io...donna...immigrata... volere dire scrivere'' (EMI 2004) *'' I ... immigrant... woman... '' (2017) *'' The Cut'' (2016)

Poetry

* ''L'Ottava Nota'' (Prospettiva 2002) *''OUT'' (KabilianaPress 2016)

Essay

* "The Cut. Voices for Change breaking Silence on Female Genital Mutilation" (2017)

Projects

In 2011, Mmaka founded in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

a collective of women (South African and immigrant from other African countries) to produce a writing project on

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. The results were the basis for her play, ''The Cut''.

References

Official Website Valentina Acava

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers Phillippa Yaa de Villiers (born 17 February 1966)Phillippa Yaa de Vill ...

* Interview wit
Richard Ali
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mmaka, Valentina Acava Living people Italian-language writers Kenyan human rights activists Women human rights activists South African human rights activists Year of birth missing (living people)