Argentines and Italians nominate Sicilian for Nobel Prize

Italian writer Enzo Randazzo, a native of Sambuca di Sicilia, has been nominated by Argentine and Italian cultural associations for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Author of several works, he represented Italy in Argentina during the Italian Culture Week in the World, in October 2024.

"When I started writing, I never would have dreamed of so much! I dedicate this nomination to all Sicilians and Italians around the world, who, with their sacrifice, honesty and creativity, bear witness to their deepest and most authentic identity values," Randazzo told ANSA.

The initiative is coordinated in Argentina by journalist Patricia Ortiz, specialist in Cultural Management, Heritage and Sustainable Tourism at the "Ortega y Gasset Argentina" Foundation and former head of the press and communications office at the National Commission for Monuments, Sites and Historical Heritage of the Latin American country.

"It is an honor to coordinate this initiative in Argentina, which supports the candidacy of a writer who reflects his Sicilian identity in his work, possessing a capacity for synthesis and flexibility typical of a culture open to the new and the different," said Ortiz.

According to her, "for Randazzo, literature has the power to unite and expand spaces for reflection and dialogue, a legacy that the strong Italian influence on Argentine culture has left us."

On behalf of Italy, the initiative is promoted by Gisella Mondino, teacher of Italian and Latin at the "Tommaso Fazello" secondary school in Sciacca, and scientific director of the Navarrese International Prize congress on Navarrese studies - held annually in Sambuca di Sicilia, in the province of Agrigento, and now in its sixteenth edition -, as well as a writer with political experience as deputy mayor and councilor for Culture, Library, Education, Social Policies and Youth of the Municipality of Sciacca, from September 2019 to June 2022.

The justifications for the proposal derive from the analysis of the literary works "Sicilia mi amore" (2014); "Kaleidoscope" (2017); "Il presidente Liccasarda" (2020); "Scrivere mi è sempre piaciuto" (2022) and others.

The more than 40 awards the writer has received worldwide, including honorable mentions, were also taken into account. These include the Pirandello Prize of Pergamena (Agrigento, 2014), the Livatino Prize (Catania, 2018), the Gesualdo Bufalino Prize of Campania (San Cipriano d'Aversa, 2003), the Speed ​​Book Prize (Turin, 2015), and the Regina Prize (Rome, 2018).

Randazzo also has extensive experience as a promoter and organizer of cultural, social and philanthropic initiatives, including the organization of the Sicilian Culture Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 and several lecture series on the writers Emanuele Navarro della Miraglia (1838-1919) and Leonardo Sciascia (1921-1989).

Randazzo's candidacy is supported by his literary and cultural activities aimed at promoting unity and the exaltation of Sicilian sentiments; the preservation of traditional values ​​belonging to the island's exiles throughout the world, the memory of their places and popular manifestations; and the linguistic evolution of the Sicilian language through literary experimentation embodied in his works.

From his participation in the 1968 youth movement and his active militancy in the Christian Democracy party and, later, in the Pannella Club – the Radical Party, led by Marco Pannella, a political movement known for its promotion of civil rights and the use of non-violence – Randazzo drew an appreciation for intergenerational dialogue, a passion and commitment to socio-political life, and a sense of freedom and belonging to his Sicily, all dominant themes in his work.

Director of the Companhia Permanente Teatro L'Idea, with which he staged several works by Martoglio, Pirandello, Navarro, Fo and Scarpetta, Randazzo enjoys traveling, reading novels, going out at night, playing chess and painting.

Creator and president of 16 editions of the "Navarro" International Literary Prize and with nine presentations at conferences on Emanuele Navarro della Miraglia, he is a pioneer of verismo and decadentism in Italy.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Randazzo created and coordinated "Chez moi," a traveling online literary exhibition with a significant participation of national and international poets and artists.