Anti-fascist and best-selling novelist was a campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights and had recently made her illness public.
Novelist and playwright, Michela Murgia was a winner of the Premio Campiello and the Mondello International Literary Prize. She was an active feminist and left-wing voice in the Italian public scene, speaking out on themes such as euthanasia and LGBTQ+ rights.
Murgia was born in Cabras, Sardinia on June 3, 1972.
Michela Murgia’s first work, Il mondo deve sapere, was published in 2006. This was a satire on the telemarketing call centre, highlighting the economic exploitation and psychological manipulation of its workers. The book was dramatized for the stage by David Emmer and starred Teresa Saponangelo. It was also filmed by Paolo Virzì, and released in 2008 as Tutta la vita davanti.
In 2008, Murgia wrote a travel book on her native Sardinia, Viaggio in Sardegna. Murgia’s 2009 novel, Accabadora, gained several awards including the Mondello International Literary Prize and the Molinello Award for First Fiction. Her most recent book, Tre Ciottole. Rituali per un anno di crisi, is currently on the bestseller list in Italy. Her other works include:
Fiction:
- L’incontro (Turin: Einaudi, 2012). ISBN 9788806218836.
- Chirú (Turin: Einaudi, 2015). ISBN 9788806206338.
- Noi siamo tempesta (Milan: Salani, 2019). ISBN 9788831007634
- Tre ciotole. Rituali per un anno di crisi (Milan: Mondadori, 2023). ISBN 9788804774891.
Non-fiction
- Viaggio in Sardegna: Undici percorsi nell’isola che non si vede (Turin: Einaudi, 2008). ISBN 9788806222192.
- Ave Mary. E la chiesa inventò la donna (Turin: Einaudi, 2011). ISBN 9788806201340.
- L’ho uccisa perché l’amavo: Falso! (with Loredana Lipperini) (Bari: Laterza, 2013). ISBN 9788858107300.
- Morgana. Storie di ragazze che tua madre non approverebbe (with Chiara Tagliaferri) (Milan: Mondadori, 2019). ISBN 9788804717119.
- #Stai zitta e altre nove frasi che non vogliamo sentire più (Turin: Einaudi, 2021). ISBN 9788806249182.
- God save the Queer. Catechismo femminista (Turin: Einaudi Stile Libero, 2022). ISBN 9788806259105.
Works in English
- Accabadora (translated by Sylvester Mazzarella) (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2012). ISBN 9781444820409.
- How to be a fascist: a manual (New York: Penguin Books, 2020). ISBN 9780143136057.
Photo: Stefano Guidi/Getty Images
