We are pleased to announce the second edition of the literary contest “Rainbook”, a tribute to the memory and legacy of Laura Grasso, an extraordinary figure and historic activist of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The contest aims to celebrate diversity through writing, providing a platform to stimulate creativity and promote awareness.
Martino Giordano and Maurizio Basili win the Laura Grasso Literary Prize🏆
‘dedicated to the figure of the great Sardinian LGBTQ+ activist’
Martino Giordano, with his novel Variazioni sul tema , wins the award for best published book, while Maurizio Basili, with his novel E vissero, wins the award for best unpublished book.
The winners were chosen by the two juries of the Laura Grasso Literary Prize, whose award ceremony took place on Sunday, 26 October 2025, in Quartu Sant’Elena, at the Spazio Pira.
In the novel, Giordano tells the story of Lidia, a talented 23-year-old cellist at the Conservatory of Palermo, who feels that the body she was born in does not correspond to her identity.
When the opportunity for a career in Berlin arises, she discovers that her true dream is to become herself. Meanwhile, in Prague, Leo lives between motels and nightclubs, carrying with him a deep loneliness until he meets Selene, an enigmatic drag queen who prompts him to question his own identity.
Two lives poised between music, love and self-discovery, intertwined in an intense and poetic debut novel
on the theme of gender transition and the desire for freedom.
The jury for the published books section – composed of Giovanni Follesa, Venera Leto, Gian Pietro Leonardi and Silvia Antosa – awarded the prize to the young Turin-based writer Martino Giordano, author of Variazioni sul tema (Solferino).
Giordano beat Umberto Mancini (L’Abbecedario del caffè, Affiori), Raffaele Cataldo (Di me non sai, Accento) and Alessio Arena (Il sesso degli alberi, Fandango) in the final, chosen from among twelve other titles in the competition.
“Variazioni sul tema” thus joins the list of winners of the Award, following “Strazizza” by Valerio La Martire, winner of the first edition in 2024.
For the unpublished section, the jury composed of Filippo Viola, Marco Corona and Alessio Romagnani awarded first prize to Maurizio Basili for “E vissero” (And they lived), a novel that deals with the separation between E. (the protagonist, whose name remains deliberately anonymous) and his partner Maurizio.
An intimate and sincere story, set in a lively and melancholic Rome, where the present and the past intertwine in a continuous emotional flow. Basili narrates with sensitivity and without stereotypes an LGBTQ+ story of love, loss and rebirth, winning over the jury with his mature writing and emotional depth.
All finalists received a raku ceramic piece created by the ‘Raku’ workshop in Cagliari, depicting a stylised image of Laura Grasso releasing a rainbow-coloured book into the sky.
In addition to artistic recognition, the winner receives a cash prize of €500.
“A tribute to Laura Grasso and an invitation to explore the many facets of contemporary literature through the prism of diversity.”
Last update:
31 October 2025
