Do you see her, this woman?

She was mocked, insulted, humiliated, criticized — simply because she was born a WOMAN. Her name was Grazia. Grazia Deledda. A young girl from Sardinia, brought up among the mountains of Nuoro, in a land where little girls were taught to sew, not to dream. At the age of nine, she had to leave school: education, for a girl, was considered useless. But Grazia did not give up. In secret, she continued her learning, nourishing her mind with books, and her soul with words.

As a teenager, when her first story was published in a magazine, her heart was filled with immense joy. But around her, there was a scandal.

To write? For a woman? What a shame! The neighbors whispered, the priest shook his head, even his own family looked at it with disapproval. A woman had to keep the house, not fill the pages of novels.

But Grazia was made of stubbornness. She refused to bend. While the house slept, she wrote in silence, weaving her nights of solitude into pages vibrant with life.

As an adult, she left her island for Rome, alongside a man who believed in her more than anyone else: Palmiro Madesani. This was no ordinary love story: Palmiro didn't just marry her, he was her first protector, her ally, her quiet encouragement to pursue her dreams without shame. And when the world laughed at them — at her, a woman writer; of him, the man who supported her—they answered with that serene silence of those who know where they are going.

Grazia continued to write, speaking of the strong and fragile women, of the lost men, of these lands as hard as her own heart. And one day, after years of silent effort, the world finally turned its eyes to her.

That was in 1926. Grazia Deledda, the barely educated "little Sardinian", was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

When she took the stage, she was not alone. At her side, hand in hand, stood Palmiro — the one who had loved her without ever fearing to lose her. Because to love, really, is this: to stay when everything tells you to leave.

And to you, Grazia, I want to say thank you. Thank you for teaching us that being born a woman is not a burden: it is a force that enlightens the world.

(Source Le Monde littéraire)