Eli Sharabi and Vittorio Giardino Awarded Literary Prize ADEI-WIZO

Hostage, the autobiography of Israeli hostage survivor Eli Sharabi, won the 26th Adelina Della Pergola Literary Prize from the Association of Italian Jewish Women (ADEI-WIZO). The book recounts Sharabi’s 491 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip following his abduction from his home in kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023.

A jury of 500 female readers selected the book as “a text of exceptional value because of the historical and humane experience it conveys” in “a direct and authentic way.” ADEI-WIZO praised the work, calling it “an indispensable book, capable of leaving an enduring mark on readers’ conscience. L’ostaggio, the Italian title of the book, had previously won the Golden Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award.

Sharabi’s autobiography participated in the main category. It outperformed the novels Frastuono (The Great Uproar) by Israeli writer Roy Chen (Giuntina) and Patrilineare (Patrilineal) by Enrico Fink (Lindau). The youth prize, awarded by high school students, went to the graphic novel The Meyer Cousins by Italian comic artist Vittorio Giardino.Published by Rizzoli, the book follows his beloved spy character Max Fridman attempting to rescue his Jewish cousins in Vienna, Austria, after the Anschluss, the annexation into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The graphic novel by Giardino, one of the most refined Italian comic artists, surpassed La vita invisible (The invisible life) by Mauro di Castro (Albatros).

“The juries were presented with narratives crossing different periods and literary styles, including graphic novels, which reached the finals for the first time,” explained Susanna Sciaky, the national president of ADEI-WIZO. “Each of these books, however, captures the complexity that has shaped our time, from the dramatic testimony of the October 7 attack to the indifference of European nations that opened the doors to the Holocaust and the family dynamics of Jewish identity in Italy and Israel.”