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When Virginia Woolf intervened in the women’s colleges of Newnham and Girton in 1928, she imagined the existence of a sister of William Shakespeare, Judith, endowed with the same extraordinary talent as her brother but destined to repress it as a woman. Almost a hundred years after that intervention – which later became the feminist essay par excellence A room of one’s own – women write, of course, but always thanks to a struggle they have had to fight, to uncomfortable positions they have had to take over time, to voices that, even today, emerge from the silence with courage, and not because they were granted, at a certain point, a pen and a room all to themselves.
In this vein, the “Donna Vita Libertà” women’s writing festival has been held in Soverato for three editions, organized by the Soverato Women’s Library. An exhibition that gives voice to authors, writers and scholars, reaffirming the value of writing as a political and cultural gesture and reaffirming the strength of a rebellious, provocative, dissident act, made of ink on paper and words.
A review to reflect on rights, freedom and contemporary society
The third edition, which took place in Piazza Maria Ausiliatrice and has just concluded, «was built precisely as a space for reflection on the present», explained the president of the library, Maria Procopio. Through the presentations of the books, issues concerning contemporary society, rights and freedoms were addressed. Among the events, a meeting was dedicated to the figure of Anna Kuliscioff and the legacy that her thought left. A focus on current affairs was offered by the presentation of the essay Power of another kind. Women, feminisms and politics (Donzelli) by the sociologist Giorgia Serughetti, with a critical reading of contemporary society through the categories of feminist thought.
But literary meetings also took place, including the presentation of the novel I can see it in the dark (Einaudi) by the Reggio journalist Anna Mallamo and moments dedicated to female art and creativity (with a dedicated exhibition), in the belief that women’s thoughts must find multiple forms of expression. The festival was in fact born from a broader path started in 1996 by the feminist group Kore founded by Assunta Di Cunzolo, who was then joined by Maria Procopio, Ausilia Siciliano and Lilly Rosso.
The library as a cultural hub and space of freedom
«The festival is not just a book review – underlined Procopio – but a true cultural and political laboratory. It is a place in which to question today’s risks in the return to forms of reactionary thought that question women’s rights.” Thus, the library is not just a physical place, but a “laboratory where ideas take shape and where books come alive because they are brought to schools, squares and in moments of meeting”.
In this wake, the association carries out a series of projects that are renewed every year: in October the “Women on the Way” awareness project in schools will resume, which involves a series of meetings with women writers who are refugees and migrants from countries marked by war or difficult economic conditions. It will also resume «A book makes me grow», which through books brings a reflection on gender relations. Furthermore, again in October, the presentation of the novel will be held Black heart (Rizzoli) by Silvia Avallone and the screening of the film Love in Mumbai by Payal Kapadiya.
The fulcrum, however, remains the library: a treasure chest of memory, guardian of a thought that the many “Judiths” of our time cannot always express, a symbol of a freedom that is as threatened as it is necessary today. «There is a phrase by Marguerite Yourcenar that we feel is particularly ours – concluded Procopio – “Founding libraries is like building public granaries again, amassing reserves against a winter of the spirit”. Today we see many signs of this winter of the spirit and, precisely for this reason, the Women’s Library represents an essential cultural garrison to defend freedom and critical thinking.”
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