Clandestine: A Journey through the Feminist Movements with Marta Stella

Marta Stella will present her book "Clandestine" published by Bompiani, at the Colonnese bookstore in Via San Pietro a Majella in Naples; the author will engage in a conversation with the journalist Raffaella R. Ferrè. The event will be enriched by readings from the Neapolitan actress Isa Danieli. "We are the daughters of those who fought the war away from the front lines. Of those who hoped for recognition that never came and then, when everything was over, had to count the dead. Daughters of those who paid dearly for their choices in a liberated Italy but increasingly bigoted that forces one to be virgins or mothers. Now it's our turn." These are the thoughts that powerfully arise in the soul of the protagonist, a high school student in the center of Milan, at the end of a day that marks her forever: she has had an abortion. She made her choice thanks to those who ensured her medical assistance but she did it clandestinely: it's the late sixties, in Italy the fascist legislation that punishes abortion with imprisonment is in force. The voice guiding us through these pages is that of a lost yet already fierce girl, who becomes a woman fighting together with other women, some mothers, others daughters, all sisters. This journey, in fact, is not only hers: it is intimate and collective. Gigliola Pierobon, Daniela Pellegrini, Elvira Banotti, Carla Lonzi, Emma Bonino, Adele Faccio, and Valerie Solanas are just some of the thousands of women that the protagonist joins in this revolutionary adventure. By accompanying them, the narrating voice grows together with the story; blending the individual novel with the collective biography, it narrates the formidable epic of the feminist movements, their reflux, perhaps their defeat. Powerfully, it warns us about the risk of forgetting, regressing, going backward. Marta Stella delivers a work of absolute originality, in which the first-person narrative alternates with highly documented chapters: "Clandestine" is a precious tool for reconnaissance of the past and at the same time the vibrant novel through which a young writer participates here and now in the courageous, tormented journey of women towards freedom. Marta Stella was born in Finale Ligure in 1988. A professional journalist and editorial consultant, her latest works have appeared in the New Yorker, with a documentary awarded at the New York International Film Awards, and in 7 of the Corriere della Sera. In recent years, she has curated several events, from the Sguardi Altrove female cinema festival to the "Narrate, people, your land" project with the Italian Environment Fund.