SUSPENSE OVER PRIZE

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30192, 25 July 1963, Page 2

SUSPENSE OVER PRIZE

Literary Contest In Italy [By SUSAN VAUGHAN} Writers in countries like America and Britain, where the general public rarely gets wildely enthusiastic about contemporary literature, are apt to look with envy at such countries as France and Italy, where books are as newsworthy as sport. Italy, for example, is in a state of suspense about the announcement this week of the winner of the coveted Strega literary prize. The contenders are being given the attention of film stars, and the final gaU ceremony is being televised.

What count* perhaps is not so much the atmosphere of the country, but the fact that there is someone in the country with the personality to whip up such of literary interest.

The person behind the Strega prize is a dynamic woman called Maria Bellonci. the author of best-selling biographies of Lucrezia Borgia and the Gonzegas, the Italian princely family. Nineteen years ago. when the Germans retreated from Rome, Maria and her husband, Goffredo, celebrated the liberation of Italian letters by forming a literary salon. Two years later Guido Alberti, whose family firm produces the liqueur Strega, found his way into the salon. He agreed to write a millionlire cheque each year for the prize. (All rights reserved.)