Strega Prize, the super favorite Andrea Bajani wins with “L'anniversario”

Andrea Bajani with 'L'anniversario' published by Feltrinelli won the LXXIX edition of the Strega Prize with 187 votes. The result, which arrived on the Roman night at the Ninfeo di Villa Giulia, did not disappoint expectations. The writer - who has already participated in our most coveted literary prize in 2021, 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 Teatro Romano in Benevento. Bajani, who also won the twelfth edition of the Strega Giovani prize, beat the competition of Nadia Terranova, nominated for the Strega for the second time with her "Quello che so di te" (Guanda) which obtained 117 preferences. Elisabetta Rasy, author of “Perduto è questo mare” (Rizzoli), instead won 133 preferences while Paolo Nori with “Chiudo la porta e urlo” (Mondadori) received 103 votes. Michele Ruol with his first novel “Inventario di quel che resta dopo che la foresta brucia”, published by Terra Rossa, instead obtained 99 votes. 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 lacerating 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, the portrait of a mother emerges, 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. “Bajani's story is an exceptional one,” we read in the motivations with which Emanuele Trevi nominated 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 his father-master and the silent, desperate submission of his mother.” The total number of votes cast was 646 (equal to 92% of those entitled to vote) out of 700. 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.