Deriu Roberto

Roberto Deriu was born on a rainy evening at seven o’clock. It was June 1, 1969. His tribe was made up of refugees, teachers, painters, merchants, timekeepers, privileged sons, and red mullet fishermen.

His early literary education revolved around the coloring magazine “Miao” and the Iliad as told by his beloved aunts. Once he learned to read, he turned his attention to Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw, which he secretly took from the family library. At nine, he read Moravia, but a family council forbade him, a prohibition he still observes to this day.

At ten, he formally requested that his parents give him the complete works of Salgari for Christmas; in the meantime, he approached the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose fragrance lingered throughout his youth.

At eleven, he read “Misericordia” by Benito Pérez Galdós, and from that moment, his literary allegiance was entirely devoted to the Spanish. He attempted to write La Pantera di Bultei starting in 1985, but he was only able to draft a primitive version thirty years later.

He spent his adolescence courting girls who stepped out of novels. A highlight of his Russian period was an erotic breakfast with lumpfish roe (caviar was not common) shared with a grand duchess who aspired to become a notary.

His contribution to contemporary literature consists of a single sentence: “Poetry is a flower watered with tears”.

Roberto Deriu is the winner of the Spoleto Festival Art International Prize for Literature in 2021.