“It Is Hard to Choose”: An Italian Author on Migration, Diaspora, African Literature, and the Limits of Labels

Abstract

The interview was conducted in English in October 2021 via Zoom by Saskia Ziolkowski of Duke University, where Igiaba Scego was a visiting scholar in Fall 2022. Igiaba Scego is an Italian author of novels, memoirs, and short stories that have been central to debates in Italy about migration, colonialism, postcolonialism, racism, and women’s writings. Scego was born in Rome in 1974 to a family of Somali ancestry. Her short story “Salsicce” (“Sausages”) was awarded the Eks & Tra prize for migrant writing in 2003. Giovanna Bellesia and Victoria Offredi Poletto translated this now famous story into English (2005). Scego’s memoir La mia casa è dove sono (My Home Is Where I am, 2010) won Italy’s prestigious Mondello Prize. She has also edited a number of volumes, including Italiani per vocazione (2005, with works by authors who moved to Italy), Anche Superman era un rifugiato (2018, a collection which underscores connections between refugees over time), and Future: il domani narrato dalle voci di oggi (2019, a collection by Black Italian women authors). Her non-fiction appears in venues such as The Guardian, World Literature Today, Internazionale, and Corriere della Sera.