A story, a graphic novel and a poem that narrate the disease as a resource and transformation. These are the winning works of the annual competition “SopratTutto Scrivere – Lara Facondi” launched by IncontraDonna Onlus and now in its third edition. The winners are Franco Ricci for the “Tale” section, Anna Chiara Fratesi for the “Graphic works” section, Giovanna Morabito for the “Poetry” section and Veronica Cappello for the Maria Arcidiacono Special Prize. The award ceremony will be held tomorrow, June 14, at 6.30 pm in Rome, at the Tra Le Righe bookshop.
The ‘Lara Facondi’ Literary Prize
The literary announcement stems from the belief that the creative work can be an instrument of self-care and reconstruction, that writing represents a useful modality for the psychophysical recovery of those affected by an oncological problem, both through direct personal experience and mediated through the lived by family, friends, close people and caregivers. The award is named after Lara Facondi who had been a volunteer of IncontraDonna and one of the promoters and organizers of the initiative, who died at 41 due to breast cancer. The theme “Illness as a resource and transformation” wants to encourage and reward creative writing when it becomes a tool for healing and reconstructing one’s own experience. The works were selected by a jury chaired by Francesco Bruni and made up of journalists, writers, cartoonists, professors, booksellers and publishers (Marina Morbiducci, Anna Maria Scaiola, Mara Matta, Silvia Mari, Loretta Santini, Claudia Fanelli, Paola Mastrobuoni, Isabella By Leo and Valerio Giacone).
The word to the winners
“I created ‘Intro’ (title of the work, ed) the day Lara left us: I participated in this literary prize with the thought and love with which Lara took care of it and I thank all those who continue to carry out his projects “, says Anna Chiara Fratesi.
“I simply write to give a body to a thought, an emotion, an intuition, a suggestion, maybe a bet”, says Franco Ricci: “I draw in rapid lines the sketch of my portrait which, as it naturally happens, can to preserve its freshness and innocence over time, while the subject, me, naturally degrades and oxidizes over time “.
“A few words said by the doctor were enough to change your life, or written on a sheet of paper next to your name, you can’t answer, you would like to rebel, cry – adds Giovanna Morabito: – then everything calms down when very tightly you tell yourself in powerful words , verses that spring spontaneously and are the synthesis of months and months, of years. Finally, the most beautiful pleasure is sharing, in the hope that they can understand you, that writing will also be useful to others “.
“Writing as a further elaboration of the old me. Yes, write, because when you are in difficulty what you say may, if you wish, not be heard, but what you write comes out … and stays! Finally free ”, concludes Veronica Cappello.