Anna Maria Ortese

Anna Maria Ortese (; June 13, 1914 – March 9, 1998) was an Italian author of novels, short stories, poetry, and travel writing. Born in Rome, she grew up between southern Italy and Tripoli, with her formal education ending at age thirteen. Her first book, , was issued in 1937. In 1953 her third collection, , won the coveted Viareggio Prize; thereafter, Ortese's stories, novels, and journalism received many of the most distinguished Italian literary awards, including the Strega and the Fiuggi. Although she lived for many years in Naples following the Second World War, she also resided in Milan, in Rome, and for most of the last twenty years of her life in Rapallo. , Ortese’s best-known work in English translation, was published in 1987 as The Iguana by the American literary press McPherson & Company. , what she considered as her most important work, the novel, had not been translated into English yet.

Early life Born in Rome, she was the fifth of six children born to Beatrice "Bice" Vaccà and Oreste Ortese. Her father worked for the Italian government, and the family moved frequently. On 6 January 1933, her brother, Emanuele Carlo, with whom she was very close, died in Martinique, where his ship had docked. The need to process his death drove her to write her first poems.

In 1969 she moved to Rome with her sister. Then in 1975, after deep disappointment with the editorial failure of her most important novel, Il porto di Toledo, she left the capital to reach Rapallo. The decade 1975-1985 has been one of the darkest times in her life. In 1983, she began corresponding with Beppe Costa, who encouraged her to publish . In 1986, with the victory of the important Premio Fiuggi, with this book, and the recognition of an annuity by the Italian state, Ortese returns to the centre of attention and begins an important season of her career. The attention that her new publisher, Adelphi, dedicated to the care of her entire literary history contributed to this. In this period she wrote two of her most important novels, , which topped the Italian fiction list and Alonso e i visionari. Meanwhile, Ortese accepted the proposal to republish many of her earlier novels with foreign publishers. One, , was translated into English by McPherson & Company in 1987, and into French by Gallimard in 1988. (An Italian feature film of , directed by Catherine McGilvray, was released in 2004. ) Another, in 1987, a collection of her short stories, A Music Behind the Wall: Selected Stories, was published. Her latest book was Corpo Celeste, which collects non-fiction and interview writings.

Death She died of cancer, which she had kept hidden, on March 9, 1998, at the age of 83 in the Rapallo hospital, only a few days after finishing the necessary editing for the re-release of Il porto di Toledo. Only after her death did her work receive international recognition and praise. Her last words, told to Luisa Giuffra, the woman who took care of her in the last days were: "Is the sea far from here? I'd like to see it one last time."

Awards

Viareggio Prize 1953 for Strega Prize 1967 for Fiuggi Prize 1986 for Procida-Elsa Morante Prize 1998 for 1998 for the French edition of