Antonella Sbuelz
Antonella Sbuelz was born in Udine in 1962. She studied literature in Verona, education in Trieste, and completed her doctorate at the University of Lausanne with a thesis on modernist literature. She is an author of poetry and prose and has published novels, short stories, volumes of poetry, essays, and literary criticism. She initially worked as a secondary school teacher, but since 2022 has devoted herself entirely to writing and other cultural events in educational institutions and in an academic context.
Sbuelz made her debut as a poet but began writing prose only a little later. Her debut novel »Il nome nudo« [tr: The Naked Name], which tells of the Second World War and the Shoah, was published in 2001. Other novels are inspired by the history of 20th century Italy and the countries bordering the eastern Italian border. She herself justifies this by saying that she can better understand the present through the magnifying glass of the past. In »Greta Vidal« [2009; Eng., 2013], she takes a look at the controversial moment in the early post-war period when Gabriele D’Annunzio occupied the city of Fiume. At the center of »La ragazza di Chagall« [2018, tr: Chagall’s Girl] is about the moment when the racial laws were passed.
»Questa notte non torno« [2021; tr: I’m Not Going Back Tonight] is Sbuelz’s first novel for young adults. The coming-of-age story tells of fleeing across the Balkans, the horrors of war and the importance of a home. Mattia lives in northern Italy and has no major worries apart from his grades and his crush on a classmate, until a conversation with his mother threatens to break up his previously intact family. He therefore decides to flee from home, finding refuge in the basements of his large school. In the middle of the night, he meets Aziz, who has already covered thousands of kilometers on his escape from Afghanistan, always accompanied by memories of his homeland. The novel is made up of these two very different voices. The book was among the finalists for the Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi 2022 and was awarded the prestigious Premio Campiello Giovani in the same year. »The elegance of her style and her attention to words make for a sensitive and high-quality text«, praised the daily newspaper »Avvenire«.
In Italy, Sbuelz has received numerous awards for her novels, which have been translated into English, German, Spanish, and French.
The author lives in Udine.
Il nome nudo
Mobydick
Faenza, 2001
Il movimento del volo
Frassinelli
Segrate, 2007
Greta Vidal
Frassinelli
Segrate, 2009
La ragazza di Chagall
Universitaria Forum
Udine, 2018
Questa notte non torno
Feltrinelli
Milano, 2021
Translation:
Heute gehe ich nicht nach Hause
Arctis
Zürich, 2023
[T: Michaela Heissenberger]