Michela Panichi, with her debut novel La Cecilia, published by nottetempo, has won the VIII edition of the Premio Letterario Allumiere: Femminile, plurale.
The announcement took place on Friday, August 28 in Allumiere, in the metropolitan city of Rome, during the final evening of the prize, which this year saw 52 female writers competing and recorded a record attendance.
La Cecilia took first place ahead of the other two titles that reached the finals: Quando i fiori avranno tempo per me by Sara Gambazza (Longanesi), second place, and Donne di un altro mondo by Maria Grazia Giammarinaro (All Around), third place. The finalist trio was selected by the technical jury composed of Martina Testa, Elisabetta Appetecchi, Veronica Ricotta, and Laura Faranda.
The godmother of this edition was the actress and writer Chiara Francini, who participated in the final evening along with the three authors.
Founded in Allumiere in 2018, the “Feminine, plural” prize is dedicated to women’s writing and the enhancement of plurality and difference, with the aim of promoting works capable of offering new perspectives on society and the present.
Published by nottetempo in May 2025, La Cecilia tells of a decisive summer in the life of thirteen-year-old Cecilia, spent as every year in Ischia. On the brink of adolescence, as her body changes and a femininity in which she struggles to recognize herself seems inevitable, Cecilia finds on the beach of Maronti the possibility of being someone else. Mistaken for a boy by the group of teenagers she meets, she decides not to correct the misunderstanding and takes on her brother’s name, Luca: female to her family, male at Maronti and especially in the eyes of Alba, a girl who attracts and simultaneously frightens her.
Amidst the discovery of desire, body transformations, and the search for her identity, La Cecilia is a coming-of-age novel that follows the protagonist in the difficult border territory between childhood and adult life, questioning who we are and who we wish to become.
Born in Naples in 2000, Michela Panichi won the Campiello Giovani in 2020 with the story Meduse. In 2024, with La Cecilia, she was a finalist in the XXXVII edition of the Italo Calvino Prize. After university, she participated in the fifth edition of the RAI master’s program in Serial Fiction Writing.
With the victory of the Premio Letterario Allumiere: Femminile, plurale, a new important recognition arrives for La Cecilia and for its very young author.
