In the frame of World Book Day, the Italian Institute of Culture, in cooperation with the Albanian National Library presented the group of Albanian readers that will be part of the Strega Prize in 2016 jury. The meeting was attended by Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro. The most prestigious Italian literary award, Strega Prize was founded in 1947 in Rome by Maria and Goffredo Bellonci, with the contribution of Guido Alberti, owner of the liquor factory Strega Alberti Benevento.
The Strega Prize has been awarded annually to a novel written in Italian and published in the first edition between April 1 of the previous year and April 30 of the current year. According to the Ministry of culture, the Strega Prize voters are Sunday Friends, a group of men and women drawn from the cultural elite of Italy. The voting will take place in two stages: the first round, which will determine the finalists, will be held on June 15, while the second and final one will be held on July 8 when the winner will be announced.
“Besides Sunday Friends, the historical group composed of about 400 people, includes in the Jury 60 strong readers, selected by booksellers, who change every year, as well as fifteen reading groups from schools, universities, and Italian Cultural Institutes abroad,” according to the Ministry of Culture. Starting from this year, Albania will become part of the Strega Prize jury with its Reading Group, coordinated by the Italian Institute of Culture in Tirana. Albanian readers, consisting of translators, editors, and Italian culture lovers will be required to judge the Italian novels.
The very first winner of Strega prize was Ennio Flaiano with his novel Tempo di uccidere, which has been translated into English as The Short Cut. Among other writers that have won the Strega Prize are: Cesare Pavese – La bella estate 1950, Alberto Moravia – I racconti 1952, Giorgio Bassani – Cinque Storie Ferraresi 1956, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa – Il Gattopardo 1959, Primo Levi – La chiave a stella, 1979, Umberto Eco – Il nome della rosa, 1980, Claudio Magris – Microcosmi, 1997, Paolo Giordano – La solitudine dei numeri primi 2008, etc.
