Between Italy and Me
Wednesday May 15, 2019, at 5 pm
Sala Teatro, Venice International University, San Servolo island
Igiaba Scego, writer.
The 1|19 cycle of VIULECTURES will host on Wednesday May 15, 2019 Igiaba Scego, Italian writer of Somali origins.
As she explores the complexity of the space implied by the title, she has addressed many different topics, from Somalia during the Italian occupation to the current struggles of migrants and Italians of African descent to the hybrid nature of her own personal story and identity.
Igiaba Scego was born in Rome. After graduating in Foreign Literature at La Sapienza University in Rome, she obtained her doctorate in pedagogy at Roma Tre University. As writer, teacher and public intellectual, Igiaba Scego is an important contributor to the dialogue between cultures and the question of migration in Italy. A prolific writer, her works include autobiographical references as they ponder the delicate balance between her two cultural realities, the Italian and Somalian. Her definition of herself, “Somalian origin, Italian vocation”, returns significantly to this double nature.
Igiaba Scego collaborates with many magazines that focus on migrant literature. She also writes for newspapers including La Repubblica and Il Manifesto, and the magazine Nigrizia with a column of news and reflection, “The Colors of Eve”.
In 2003, Igiaba Scego won the Eks & Tra prize for migrant writers with her story Salsicce, and published her debut novel, La nomade che amava Alfred Hitchcock. This year her novel, Oltre Babilonia, was released in English, with the title Beyond Babylon. More info about the book at this link.
This open lecture forms a part of VIU Globalization Program Spring 2019 courses, and especially of the course 'Immigrant Voices in Contemporary Italy', by Prof. Laurie Shepard.
