The writer Michela Murgia, one of the most prominent intellectuals in Italy, a feminist activist and for civil rights, died this Thursday at the age of 51, from a cancer that she herself announced publicly last May, since when she recounted the progress of her disease. on social networks.
Murgia, known for her great literary talent, but also for her many civil battles, died Thursday afternoon from kidney cancer that was irreversible when she was diagnosed: “You don’t return from the fourth stage,” she told Corriere in May della Sera, explaining that he had “months” to live.
Her death has shocked the Italian cultural and political world, which mourns the loss of “a tireless fighter” and a “unique voice” who knew how to reach public opinion on many social issues.
“Goodbye Michela,” the Mondadori publishing house wrote on Twitter, along with a large photograph of the smiling writer, one of the numerous displays of affection and tributes that have followed one another in recent hours from friends and followers.
In mid-July, she announced her “marriage against her will” with the actor and director Lorenzo Terenzi, whom she married civilly to see her partner’s rights guaranteed and what she called her “queer family”, made up of for his friends and “sons of the soul”.
Murgia (Cabras, Sardinia, 1972) was a Sardinian writer, playwright, essayist and columnist, although before that she worked as a religion teacher and director of a thermoelectric plant, among other trades, and in 2014 she ran to be a candidate for the presidency of her region. native, although he did not succeed.
His literary career began in 2006, with the publication of his first novel, “Il mondo deve sapere”, a tragicomic story about the world of call shops that began as a blog and ended up inspiring the play of the same name and the film “Tutta the davanti life”, in 2008.
Of Catholic formation and closely linked to her Sardinian roots, “Viaggio in Sardegna” appeared in 2008, two years before publishing “Acabadora”, the work on euthanasia and adoption in the 50s that earned her public recognition and recognition. criticism and with which he won several awards.
Then came “Ave Maria”, a reflection on women and the Church (2011), followed by “L’incontro” (2012), the short essay on femicide “L’ho uccisa perché l’amavo. False! ” (2013), “Chiru'” (2015) and “Interior Future” (2016).
As her literary career took hold, Murgia became an important voice in Italian culture, expressing a different vision to promote gender equality or the fight against fascism. Precisely in an interview, he assured that fascism wins “when it manages to put its words in your mouth, not when it reaches the government”, while announcing his illness he said: “I only hope to die when Giorgia Meloni is no longer prime minister, because hers It’s a fascist government.”
In 2022 he wrote “God Save the Queer”, an essay on one of the topics that “touched” him the most in his last years, to the point of making his “queer family” known, made up of the closest people and with those who shared a house on the outskirts of Rome, where he married Terenzi.
One of them was the writer Roberto Saviano, who fired her on social networks with an emotional message along with a smiling photo of Murgia: “But my love does not die.”
