Alaa Faraj wins the Severino Cesari Prize with Perché ero ragazzo
The national debut-book prize was awarded in Perugia on 18 October. The book is published by Sellerio.
Alaa Faraj’s Perché ero ragazzo, published by Sellerio, has won the ninth edition of the national Severino Cesari debut-book prize. The result was announced in Perugia on 18 October, with Emanuela Turchetti, president of the association honouring the Umbrian editor, in attendance. Writer Simona Vinci chaired the jury.
Faraj’s book prevailed over the other finalists, Maria Spissu Nilson’s Sinnada and Marina Zucchelli’s Latte. In the announcement issued by Regione Umbria, vice-president Tommaso Bori emphasises both the work’s literary quality and its civic significance. The award invites readers to approach Faraj first as an author: a voice whose writing brings questions of dignity, listening and the possibility of a new beginning into the reading experience, connecting narrative power with the concerns of the present.