Alessandro Sanna: Grazia Deledda’s Wonder Tales

Join acclaimed Italian illustrator and author Alessandro Sanna for a special live-painting performance inspired by the wonder tales of Nobel Prize-winning Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda.

Created especially for the centenary of her Nobel Prize in Literature, Grazia Deledda’s Wonder Tales will bring Alessandro Sanna’s distinctive visual imagination into dialogue with the fantastic worlds of Grazia Deledda’s writing. Painting live before the audience, Sanna will offer a visual response to the Sardinian landscapes and forms of enchantment that emerge from Deledda’s tales.

The performance forms part of the international conference Grazia Deledda’s Waves: Networks, Memories and Legacies 100 Years After the Nobel Prize, taking place at Murray Edwards College on 25–26 September 2026.

About Alessandro Sanna

Alessandro Sanna is one of Italy’s leading contemporary illustrators. He has earned international recognition as a painter, illustrator and author, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker. A prolific creator of illustrated books for children and readers of all ages, his books have been translated and published around the world. Among his accolades, Sanna has received three Andersen Awards. From 2020 to 2022, he was the first Italian illustrator to be appointed Children’s Laureate by the Associazione delle Librerie Indipendenti per Ragazzi (ALIR, Association of Independent Children’s Bookshops). He teaches illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and has collaborated extensively with writers and publishers. His recent publications include In canto (Terre di mezzo, 2023), with a poetic text by children’s writer Giusi Quarenghi. The book continues an evolving exploration of line and colour developed across works such as Fiume lento (Rizzoli, 2013; The River, Enchanted Lion Books, 2014) and Pinocchio prima di Pinocchio (Orecchio Acerbo, 2015; Pinocchio: The Origin Story, Enchanted Lion Books, 2016).

About Grazia Deledda’s Waves

The international conference Grazia Deledda’s Waves: Networks, Memories and Legacies 100 Years After the Nobel Prize marks the centenary of Grazia Deledda’s Nobel Prize in Literature and brings together an international community of scholars to foster new research into her life and writing. Across two days, the programme features eight panels alongside special events that bring Deledda’s work and Sardinian culture into conversation with contemporary visual art and cinema. The full programme is available on the conference website: https://conferencegraziadeleddacambridge2026.wordpress.com/

Support

The event is supported by the London-based cultural association Il Circolo, the British Academy, the Italian Section of the University of Cambridge, the Cambridge Intesa Sanpaolo Fund, the Italian Cultural Institute in London, CinemaItaliaUK, the Association for the Study of Modern Italy, the Society for Italian Studies, the Interdisciplinary Network for Nineteenth-Century Italian Studies Ottocentismi and the British-Italian Society.

Conference Organisers

Dr Elena Sottilotta
Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
[email protected]

Dr Sara Delmedico
Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna
[email protected]

Conference enquiries: [email protected]