Literature: 1926

Deledda, Grazia pronounced day LEHD dah, (1871-1936), an Italian author, won the 1926 Nobel Prize for literature. Deledda wrote about 40 novels and many short stories. Her best fiction is set among the peasants of her native Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. She used the primitive Sardinian landscape as a symbol for the difficulties faced by the men and women in her stories. Deledda deals with the inner experiences and passions of her characters. In many stories, the ancient customs of Sardinia come into conflict with modern attitudes.

Deledda was born in Nuoro, Sardinia. She wrote her first stories at the age of 17. Her most significant novels include After the Divorce (1902), Elias Portolu (1903), Ashes (1904), and The Mother (1920). She wrote an autobiographical novel, Cosima, which was published in 1937, after her death.