Valentina got a tattoo on her ring finger, an X, where the little birthmark was, the same as on her brother’s finger. As a child, she was proud of this sign of togetherness, but then her brother went underground, joined G.’s neo-fascist gang. X is a novel in three dozen letters that Valentina writes to her brother. The focus is on the summer of 2010, when Valentina was raped by G, she did not report him, only confided in her brother, who then turned his back on her…

The event will take place with translator Barbara Sauser and will be moderated by Anina Barandun. In Italian, with translation into German.

Presented by: Valentina Mira, born in Rome in 1991, worked as a waitress and in a call centre after studying law. She first wrote for Corriere della Sera, Il manifesto and Il romanista. Today she is a ghostwriter, translator from French and co-author of “A parole nostre”, the feminist section of the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. X (2021) is Valentina Mira’s first novel and was awarded the Premio Roberto Scialabba