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Author Michela Murgia
Photograph:
Marco Piraccini / Mondadori / Getty Images
Italian writer and left-wing activist Michela Murgia has died. As her German publisher Wagenbach confirmed, she died on Thursday at the age of 51.
Murgia was born in Sardinia in 1972. She studied theology and worked as a religion teacher. In 2006 she published her first book »il mondo deve sapere« (in German: »Camilla in the call center country«) about the conditions in a call center. For her novel »Accabadora« (2009) she received the prestigious Premio Campiello. In it, Murgia combined archaic and modern Italy in a touching way and thus also reached readers in German-speaking countries. In addition to her literary writing, Murgia distinguished herself as a committed and critical left-wing voice in Italian social politics.
Against the drift to the right in Italian society
With interventions on radio and television as well as essays such as "Becoming a Fascist. A Guide« (2019), she resolutely opposed the rightward drift in Italian society, against misogyny, homophobia and conservative family policy. Among her political writings is the book "Ave Mary", published in 2011, in which she addresses the position of women in the Catholic world. Most recently, Murgia campaigned for the rights of queer people in Italy. She also criticized Italy's right-wing government.
Murgia was open about her serious cancer: In May of this year, she made her kidney cancer public in an interview with the newspaper "Corriere della Sera". Despite her illness, which was already well advanced at that time, she did not want to die under a head of government Meloni. This wish did not come true for them.
She also addressed the illness and the approaching farewell to her family in her recently published collection of stories »Tre ciotole« (»Three Bowls«). The book will be published in January 2024 on German.
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