Giorgio Bassani, a young Italian Jewish writer, has won the top Italian literary prize this year, it was announced here today. The prize, the “Premio Strega,” carries a cash award of 1,000,000 lira (approximately $1,600).
The award was given for “Five Stories of Ferrara,” a collection of tales dealing with the Jewish community of that northern Italian town before, during and after the Nazi and Fascist persecutions.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.