The Italo-Ethiopian writer Gabriella Ghermandi was born in Addis Ababa in 1965 and moved to Italy in 1979. For many years she has lived in Bologna, where her father was born. In 1999 she won first place in the competition for immigrant writers held by the association Eks&Tra and promoted by the publishing house Fara Editore. In 2001 and again in 2003 she won third place.