Solitude Is a Landscape . Writing the Invisible with Grazia Deledda
A writing workshop for adults at MAN in Nuoro
with playwright Irene Petra Zani
3–6 November 2026
From 3 to 6 November 2026, MAN presents Solitude Is a Landscape. Writing the Invisible with Grazia Deledda, a writing workshop for adults led by playwright Irene Petra Zani. Four sessions will explore solitude, landscape, memory and imagination, taking the work of the Nuoro-born writer as their starting point.
The workshop is organised in collaboration with Sardegna Teatro/TEN Teatro Eliseo Nuoro as part of the project Drammaturgie del Destino curated by Il Mutamento Zona Castalia ETS.
In Grazia Deledda’s works, solitude is an inhabited space in which characters encounter desire, guilt, God, nature and fate. The workshop explores this dimension and the relationship between landscape and inner conflict, discovering how solitude can sharpen perception and inspire new stories.
Drawing on selected passages from Canne al vento, Cenere, La madre and Cosima, the workshop will alternate individual writing exercises with reading and sharing. Deledda’s texts will enter into dialogue with the participants’ imaginations, giving shape to memories, images and lived experiences.
Throughout the workshop, participants will also be invited to gather traces, thoughts and fragments from moments in everyday life. This material will feed into the sessions and a piece of collective writing, bringing personal observation into dialogue with the group’s experience.
The workshop is open to both experienced writers and those approaching writing for the first time. Places are limited to 10 participants, and registration is required. Participants may continue the exercises at home at their own pace.
Before the workshop begins, participants will have an opportunity to explore the language of theatre: all ten will be invited to attend as guests a performance of La Diva della Scala, featuring Laura Curino, on Monday 2 November at 8.30 pm at TEN Teatro Eliseo Nuoro. This will offer an introduction to the experience, bringing theatre and writing together from the outset and creating a dialogue between the programmes of MAN and TEN.
Irene Petra Zani
Irene Petra Zani is a playwright and graduate of the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi. Her work has been translated into English, French, Catalan, Romanian and Greek. In the Pink, published by Cue Press and the recipient of several awards, was selected for PLAYGROUND 2024/2026 by PAV and Fabulamundi Playwriting Europe. With PEITHO – Persuasione, she won the Futuro Passato 2024 call for projects organised by Tinaos and CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del FVG, as well as Festil’s production award.
With Il Bambolo (El Nino), she was twice an artist in residence at Sala Beckett in Barcelona and won the Premi Born de Residencia Teatral 2020. The play was selected for Trame d’Autore 2021 at Piccolo Teatro Grassi in Milan and was also staged at Teatro Franco Parenti. Hotel Dalida was presented at Lecite Visioni and premiered at Campania Teatro Festival 2025. She took part in Fausto Paravidino’s Playstorm for Teatro Stabile di Torino (2018–2020) and is one of the playwrights involved in Fabulamundi Playwriting Europe.
Schedule
3 November: 5.30–8.00 pm
4, 5 and 6 November: 6.00–8.00 pm