Publishing, Politics and Literary Prizes: Nuruddin Farah's Reception in Italy

In this article I explore the publication of the translated novels of Nuruddin Farah in Italy. The Somali writer exhibits a strong Italian influence in his work and provides a decisive counter-narrative to historical misconceptions of Italian colonialism. Unfortunately this important voice of the formerly colonised people of Somalia in the land of their former colonial masters has largely been lost. In this article I show that Farah's work has had limited influence in Italy because of a set of systemic economic and ideological pressures that restricted the publication and reception of his work in an Italy that was politically polarised in its opinion of the Siad Barre regime. Also examined in this article is the influence of the awarding of prestigious literary prizes to Farah and the effect this had of boosting the value of his later work to mainstream Italian publishers as well as the commoditisation of Farah's works within the framework of specific practices associated with the marketing of African fiction in the West and in Italy.