Ingy Mubiayi (born 27 June 1972) is an Egyptian-born Italian writer. She focuses her works on migrants and has become a voice of the Italian-African diaspora. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Eks & Tra prize for migrant writers for her work "Documenti, prego". In addition to her writing, Mubiayi teaches Italian and Arabic and has worked as a translator.

Biography

Ingy Mubiayi Kakese was born on 27 June 1973^[1] to a Congolese father and Egyptian mother in Cairo, Egypt, where she lived until she was four years old. Moving to Rome, Italy, in 1977, she first attended a French school as her spoken languages were French and Arabic. When her sister was confused by the multi-lingual household, her parents imposed a rule of only speaking Italian and she lost her earlier two languages.^[2] Mubiayi attended the Sapienza University of Rome, graduating with a degree in the History of Islamic Culture. In 2000, she opened a bookshop called Modus Legendi in the Primavalle neighborhood of Rome focusing on intercultural and migrant literature.^[3] In 2003, Mubiayi began teaching Italian to immigrants with the Association Sociocultural Villa Carpegna and since 2004, she has taught Arabic at the 1° Circolo Didattico "P.Maffi".^[1]

Mubiayi's works discuss the experience of second-generation Italians, who are both part of and separated from Italian culture. Her stories evaluate what it is to be Italian in a world where migration,^[4] gender and racism differ among cultures.^[5] In addition to writing for anthologies, she has published works in the journal Internazionale and served as a translator.^[3] In 2004, she was the recipient of the Eks & Tra prize for migrant writers for her work "Documenti, prego" which then appeared in the anthology La seconda pelle. She hosts a radio show on Vita Trentina Radio discussing identity.^[6]

In 2007, Mubiayi jointly edited and published with Igiaba Scego a series of interviews with Afro-Italian writers about their migration experiences entitled, Quando nasci è una roulette: Giovani figli di migranti si raccontano (When You’re Born It’s a Crapshoot: Young Children of Migrants Tell their Stories).^[7] In 2009, she was a featured speaker at the International Women's Day presentation in Capannori with her work, Parole migrate (Words Migrate).^[8]

Selected works

• Mubiayi, Ingy (2004). "Documenti, prego". In Sangiorgi, Roberta (ed.). La seconda pelle (in Italian). Bologna, Italy: Eks & tra. OCLC 606497351.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (2005). "Concorso". In Capitani, Flavia; Coen, Emanuele (eds.). Pecore nere: racconti (in Italian). Rome, Italy: GLF editori Laterza. ISBN 978-8-842-07797-8.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (March 2005). "Fiori e scarafaggi". Nuovi Argomenti: Fuori Casa (in Italian). l'Istituto Grafico Tiberino, Rome, Italy: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Spa (29): 108–115.^[9]
• Mubiayi, Ingy (2005). "La famiglia". In Scego, Igiaba (ed.). Italiani per vocazione (in Italian). Fiesole, Italy: Cadmo. ISBN 978-8-879-23331-6.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (2005). "Rimorso". In Gnisci, Armando (ed.). Allattati dalla lupa: scritture migranti (in Italian). Rome, Italy: Sinnos editrice. ISBN 978-8-876-09051-6.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (June 2005). "L'incontro". El-Ghibli (in Italian). 2 (8).
• Scego, Igiaba; Mubiayi, Ingy (2007). Quando nasci è una roulette: giovani figli di migranti si raccontano (in Italian). Milan, Italy: Terre di mezzo. ISBN 978-8-861-89007-7.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (2008). "Nascita". In Capitani, Flavia; Coen, Emanuele (eds.). Amori bicolori: racconti (in Italian). Rome, Italy: GLF editori Laterza. ISBN 978-8-842-08578-2.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (2008). "Uno sguardo al 'contrario': l'ironia come strategia letteraria". In Camilotti, Silvia (ed.). Lingue e letterature in movimento : scrittrici emergenti nel panorama letterario italiano contemporaneo (in Italian) (1st ed.). Bologna, Italy: Bononia University Press. ISBN 978-8-873-95417-0.
• Mubiayi, Ingy (2009). Parole migrate (in Italian).^[8]