(ANSA) - UDINE, APRIL 12 - The 19th Tiziano Terzani International Literary Award, from the near/far cultural association with the Terzani family, goes to the Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare, alias Michele Rech, for "No Sleep Till Shengal" (Bao Publishing), in name of the Florentine journalist and writer.
This was communicated by the Prize Jury, chaired by Angela Terzani Staude, recalling the value of the candidate works and the five finalists.
This was composed by Cal Flyn for "Islands of Abandonment.
Life in the post-human landscape" (Blu Atlantis), Paolo Giordano for "Tasmania" (Einaudi), Pierre Sautreuil for "The Lost Wars of Jurij Beljaev" (Einaudi), Mikhail Shishkin for "Russki Mir: War or Peace?"
(21 letters).
Rech, reads the motivation, has "made a courageous journey into the contradictory and very painful reality of the Shengal Ezidi community, entering the history of conflicts that geopolitics has removed from its narrative, through an irresistibly gripping reportage".
"No Sleep Till Shengal" is the story of the journey, in 2021, of Zerocalcare with an Italian delegation, in northern Iraq, in Shengal, documenting the living conditions of the Iraqi community of the Ezidis, a people who survived the genocide of Isis, protected by the militias Kurdish.
"Those are the places to be, among men and women who are turning upside down an unjust and oppressive society that has been rooted for centuries," writes Zerocalcare.
Angela Terzani echoes him: "Exactly as Titian thought,
Rech will receive the Award on 6 May in Udine, at the evening event, the central moment of the festival Vicino/Lonto (from 3 to 7 May).
"This award - said Zerocalcare - really means a lot to me. The figure of Titian in the late 90s and early 2000s was one of the pillars of my 'civic' education. Being among the five finalists was already like winning for me".
(HANDLE).