Milena Agus

Milena Agus (born 1955) is a Sardinian author. She is one of the leading novelists in the so-called Sardinian Literary Spring which began in the 1980s and which includes other international names such as Michela Murgia.

Milena Agus was born in Genova to Sardinian parents. She lives and works in Cagliari, where previously she taught Italian and History at the Meucci Technical Institute. She then moved to teaching at the creative school in Cagliari called Fois Fois. She is a practitioner of the 'New Sardinian Literature'.

Her first novel, While the Shark is Sleeping (Nottetempo, 2005) had two reprints within as many months, but it was Mal di Pietre (From the Land of the Moon in English) which brought her to the attention of a wide audience. Translated into five languages, it was a bestseller in France, where it rose to international fame. Mal di Pietra won the Strega prize, the Campiello prize, and the Stresa di Narrativa prize. In 2016 it was adapted into a feature film called Mal de Pierres, or in English From the Land of the Moon directed by Nicole Garcia and starring Marion Cotillard. It was entered into competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016.

• While the Shark is Sleeping, Rome, Nottetempo, 2005
• From the Land of the Moon, Rome, Nottetempo, 2006
• Perché scrivere, Rome, Nottetempo, 2007
• Scrivere è una tana. La Sardegna pure, in AA. VV. (Edited by Giulio Angioni), Cartas de logu: scrittori sardi allo specchio, Cagliari, CUEC, 2007
• The Neighbour, Cagliari, Tiligù, 2008
• Ali di Babbo, Roma, Nottetempo, 2008
• La Contessa di Ricotta, Roma, Nottetempo, 2009
• Nascosto al giorno. Il piacere di leggere e di scrivere, (con Ettore Cannas), Cagliari, Tiligù, 2010
• Sottosopra, Rome, Nottetempo, 2011
• Guardati dalla mia Fame (with Luciana Castellina), Nottetempo, 2014

• Junturus Prize 2004, for Mal di Pietre
• Relay Prize («roman d'évasion») in France
• Forte Village Prize 2007
• Campiello Prize, Jury's special selection 2007
• Santa Marinella Peize 2007
• Elsa Morante Prize 2007
• Zerilli-Marimo Prize for Italian Fiction, New York 2008, for Mal di Pietre