Strega Prize, Andrea Bajani wins with 'The Anniversary'

Andrea Bajani with 'L'anniversario' , published by Feltrinelli, won the LXXIX edition of the Strega Prize . The verdict, which arrived on the Roman night at the Ninfeo di Villa Giulia, did not disappoint expectations: the writer - who has already participated in the most coveted literary award in 2021 by entering the top five with 'Il libro delle case' - had been considered the super favorite for weeks. Bajani in fact showed up at the Ninfeo leading the top five voted on June 4 at the Roman theater in Benevento.

With the bottle of Liquore Strega in his hand, symbol of victory, Bajani expressed "first of all gratitude to all those who have believed in me over the years , publishers, readers and the university. Thanks to those who support me and to the publisher who believed in me. Thanks to the authors I have read".

In his book Bajani, "with the brutal force of the novel", tackles a taboo: the irrevocable breakdown of family relationships . Ten years after the separation, the anniversary of that heartbreaking farewell is celebrated. An act that is not an accusation but a story presented with a "scandalously calm" voice, as Emmanuel Carrère wrote. From the memory of those dark and tiring years emerges the portrait of a mother, a woman who has given up on herself in order to be accepted by her husband who exercises his subtle and pervasive power over the entire family . "It is an exceptional story, that of Bajani - we read in the motivations with which Emanuele Trevi proposed the book for the Strega Prize - which breaks a real taboo: in the first pages of the book we meet the protagonist who tells us about the last time he saw his parents, before turning his back forever on his family, torn apart by the violence of the father-master and the silent, desperate submission of the mother".

The total number of votes cast, 646 (equal to 92% of those entitled to vote), led to the victory of Bajani's novel with 194 votes (and not 187 as had been mistakenly announced during the live TV broadcast and written on the traditional ballot board). Elisabetta Rasy, 'Perduto è questo mare' (Rizzoli) followed with 133 votes, Nadia Terranova, 'Quello che so di te' (Guanda) with 117 votes, Paolo Nori, 'Chiudo la porta e urlo' (Mondadori) with 103 votes, Michele Ruol, 'Inventory of what remains after the forest burns' (TerraRossa) with 99 votes.

The Prize was awarded by a jury composed of the votes of the 400 Friends of Sunday, to which are added as usual 245 voters from abroad selected by 35 Italian Cultural Institutes in the world (each of which express 7 jurors among scholars, translators and enthusiasts of our language and literature), 25 collective votes from schools, universities and reading circles of the Libraries of Rome, 30 votes from strong readers chosen from the world of professions and entrepreneurship.