Frankfurter Buchmesse: The host country returns home. Italian writers Giulia Caminito, Igiaba Scego, and Maddalena Vaglio Tanet talk

The Museum Casa di Goethe and the German Embassy in Rome organise a conversation on the occasion of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Some Italian women writers who participated in the Buchmesse are invited to discuss their experiences and the books presented in Frankfurt. In this way we will bring ‘the guest country’ home and also give the Roman public a more concrete idea of this important literary event.

Giulia Caminito, Igiaba Scego, and Maddalena Vaglio Tanet in conversation with Karen Krüger (FAZ Milan)

Giulia Caminito © private

Giulia Caminito was born in 1988 and lives in Rome. Her first novel La grande A (Giunti, 2016) won the Bagutta Opera Prima Prize, the Berto Prize and the Brancati Giovani Prize. She has written novels, short stories and children’s books. He has published Un Giorno verrà, L’acqua del lago non è mai dolce (winner of the Premio Campiello 2021 and finalist for the Premio Strega 2021) and Il male che non c’è, (2024) for the publishing house Bompiani. Her books have been translated in over twenty countries. She collaborates with magazines and newspapers and works in the publishing world.

Igiaba Scego © Simona Filippini

Igiaba Scego, born in Rome in 1974, graduated in Foreign Literature at La Sapienza in Rome and did a PhD in Pedagogy at Roma Tre University. Of Somali origin and an expert in transculturalism, her writing focuses mainly on the relationship between the two cultures, that of belonging and that of origin. Among others, she collaborates with “Il Manifesto”, “Internazionale”, “La Repubblica” and “Nigrizia”. Her debut novel, for children, is La nomade che amava Alfred Hitchcock (2003) and with La mia casa è dove sono (2010) she won the Monello Prize in 2011. Igiaba Scego is also the author of several short stories that have appeared in anthologies. Her other works include: Rhoda (2004), Oltre Babilonia (2008), Adua (2015), Caetano Veloso. Camminando controvento (2016), La linea del colore Africana e Figli dello stesso cielo (2020), the anthology Il razzismo e il colonialismo raccontato ai ragazzi (2021), and Cassandra a Mogadiscio (2023). In 2024, in collaboration with C. Piaggio, she edited the anthology Viaggio nella storia letteraria del Continente.

Maddalena Vaglio Tanet @ private

Maddalena Vaglio Tanet, born in Biella in 1985, studied at the University of Pisa and at the Scuola Normale Superiore. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Columbia University in New York. She lived in Berlin for a long time and recently moved to the Netherlands, where she works as a literary scout. She is the author of award-winning children’s books: Il Cavolo di Troia e altri miti sbagliati (Rizzoli, finalist for Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi 2022), Casa Musica (Room Italic, Premio Orbil 2023), Rim e le parole liberate (Rizzoli, finalist for Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi 2024). Tornare dal bosco, her debut novel, was nominated for the Premio Strega 2023 and translated into several languages (in German it was published by Suhrkamp under the title In den Wald).

An event organised by Casa di Goethe and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Rome in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Rome and the Frankfurt Book Fair

Picture: Eröffnung Ehrengast Forum Italien – Rundgang © Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024, Photo Zino Peterek