THEthe surname of women by Aurora Tamigio (Feltrinelli) is the winning book of the third edition of the iO Donna Literary Prize. For the 2023 edition of “Today’s Heroines” we have chosen Rosa’s determination. The delicate resilience of Selma. Patrizia’s stubbornness. The naive beauty of Lavinia. Marinella’s hope.
The awards ceremony took place on Friday 17 November at the Grand Hotel et de Milan, within the BookCity Milano programme, with the director Danda Santini and the central editor of iO Donna, Mariagrazia Ligato.
Screenwriter and copywriter first of all, the winner said she was inspired by South American magical realism.
The women of Aurora Thamigio
In the book she describes three generations of women occupying the place the world has decided they should occupy. You can smell the scents of the tavern that Rosa opened with Sebastiano Quaranta. We hear the groans of war hospitals where love nourishes hopes that reason cannot accept. They prick the pins that pass through Selma’s embroidery, when she learns to see in the dark too. You can feel the changes, the fear but above all the hope that runs through the entire novel.
Maria Grazia Ligato, Aurora Tamigio and Danda Santini. (Photo: Duilio Piaggesi)
Italy changes around these womenbut it is an Italy that reaches us through small gestures: a lipstick to be removed on the day of the first universal suffrage, a Sanremo tune entitled What did you put in your coffee, the watermelons eaten on the terraces during the 1982 World Cup.
The first literary heroine elected was in 2019 Giulia Florioprotagonist of The Lions of Sicily by Stefania Auci. The second year, in 2020 the jury has chosen Plautilla Bricci, the protagonist of the Architect by Melania Mazzucco. The 2021 he elected instead Olive Money, protagonist of Viola Ardone’s novel. Last year, however, she was Catherine Hill, protagonist of Like wind sewn to the earth by Ilaria Tuti.
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