THEto literature written by women is spreading in bookstores and in the sales charts: a phenomenon that is also visible in our country. But do these writers manage to get the right recognition even when it comes to prestigious awards?
By keeping an eye on what’s happening across the Channel and examining the Booker Prizethe most important recognition in Great Britain, women accounted for 58 percent of the victories and the shortlists of candidates starting from 2012. This year, as many men as women had access to the last selection. Not only that, 54 percent of the authors initially selected were women.
And from us? I analyzed the rolls of honor of the three most popular prizes: the Strega, the Campiello and the Bancarella. Well the first (and probably most coveted), born in 1947, is still a male “hunting” ground. From its birth to 1990, six writers have won it: Elsa Morante, Natalia Ginzburg, Fausta Cialente, Maria Bellonci, Annamaria Ortese and Lalla Romano.
Antonella Baccaro (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Between 1990 and 2012, four won it: Mariateresa Di Leave, Dacia Maraini, Margaret Mazzantini and Melania Mazzucco. Then from 2012 to today the number drops. There are three of them: Helena Janeczek, Ada D’Adamo and, last year, Donatella Di Pietrantonio. The overall percentage is low: 16.6 percent.
On the other hand, the Campiello prize gives satisfaction to women writers: out of 62 prizes awarded, from 1963 to today, 18 have gone to women of letters, equal to 29 percent. In the last ten years, women have won seven times, most recently this year with Wanda Marasco.
Even more surprising is Bancarella’s analysis: here, out of 72 prizes awarded since 1953, 18 have gone to female writers, exactly a quarter. But above all, from 2012 to today, women’s victories have been 12 out of 14. The last prize went to Milena Palminteri. Could it be the selection mechanism that determined this result? The Stand is assigned starting from a jury of booksellers who evaluate, among other things, sales.
And let’s go back to the starting point: women writers are successful (also) because their readers are predominantly womenbut they still struggle to be recognized by the literary elite, firmly dominated by writers.
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Antonella Baccaro’s articles on I Woman and on Corriere della Sera.