Marilena Umuhoza Delli (born 3 May 1981) is a Rwandan-Italian photographer, filmmaker, radio presenter, and author. In 2020, she was named one of the "Top 50 Women of the Year" by

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

Early life and education

Marilena was born in Italy to her Italian father, Giovanni, from

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

and her mother, Myriam, who immigrated from

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. She holds a master's degree in ‘Language for International Communication' from Università degli Studi di Bergamo for which she wrote her thesis on ‘African Cinema.' Additionally, she studied filmmaking at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA).

Work

Writing

In 2016, her first book, a memoir titled, ''Razzismo All'Italiana: Cronache Di Una Spia Mezzosangue (Racism Italian Style: Chronicles of a half-blood spy)'' was published by Aracne Editrice (Rome). In 2020, her second book, a novella titled, ''Negretta: Baci razzisti (Little Black Girl: Racist Kisses)'' was published by Rome's Red Star Press. Her third book, ''Pizza Mussolini'', was published in 2023 and also her fourth book, ''Lettera di una madre afrodiscendente alla scuola italiana''. Delli's fifth book, ''Storia vera dell'Italia nera. Gli afrodiscendenti che hanno fatto la Storia d'Italia, dall'impero romano a oggi'' was published in the fall of 2024. In

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

Sette (magazine) ''Sette'', also known as ''Corriere della Sera Sette'', is a news, political and lifestyle magazine based in Milan, Italy. The magazine is the weekly supplement of the daily newspaper ''Corriere della Sera''. It was the first colour supplement d ...

, award-winning journalist, Gian Antonio Stella, wrote that Delli's writing is "tough and hilarious."

il Manifesto (; English: "the manifesto") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Rome, Italy. While calling itself " communist" and broadly left-wing, it is not connected to any political party A political party is an organization that coordin ...

states her work features "biting humor." She also writes regularly for

Vanity Fair magazine ''Vanity Fair'' is an American monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States. The first version of ''Vanity Fair'' was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in ...

Photography

Delli's photographic work has been featured on the covers and artwork for over forty records by international music artists. Relatedly, her photos have been published by such publications as the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

, and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Bomb (magazine) ''Bomb'' (stylized in all caps as ''BOMB'') is an American arts magazine edited by artists and writers, published quarterly in print and daily online. It is composed primarily of interviews between creative people working in a variety of discipli ...

and No Depression magazine both published multi-page features on Delli's work in their print editions.

Film

Delli's documentary film work has been shown at such festivals as

Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. This festival was founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen. It ...

Netherlands, Sole Luna Doc Film Festival in Sicily— where she also served on the jury— and

WOMEX WOMEX (short for Worldwide Music Expo) is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany ...

. Amongst other networks, her footage has been used on segments for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, and

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

television.

Radio

Since January 2021, Delli has curated and co-hosted the Afro Descendant Excellencies program on the national radio network,

Radio Radicale Radio Radicale is the official radio station of the Italian Radical Party. Founded in 1976 as part of the ''Radio libere'' ("Free Radio”) movement, it has no commercial advertisements and is partly funded by the party, with support from the Ita ...

Gomorrah (book) ''Gomorrah'' (Italian: ''Gomorra'') is a book of investigative journalism conducted by Roberto Saviano and published in 2006, which documents Saviano's infiltration and investigation of a number areas of business and daily life controlled or af ...

author and winner of the

PEN Pinter Prize The PEN Pinter Prize and the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award both comprise an annual literary award launched in 2009 by English PEN in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, who had been a Vice Pre ...

and the

European Book Prize The European Book Prize () is a European Union literary award established in 2007. It is organized by the association Esprit d'Europe in Paris. It seeks to promote European values, and to contribute to European citizens' better understanding of t ...

Roberto Saviano Roberto Saviano (; born 22 September 1979) is an Italian writer, journalist, and screenwriter. In his writings, including articles and his book ''Gomorrah (book), Gomorrah'', he uses literature and investigative reporting to tell of the economic ...

, cited Marilena and her program as a source in a feature for

Awards and commendation

In 2016, Delli provided all of the photos and film for the Zomba Prison Project, the first album of Malawian artists to ever receive a Grammy nomination. Delli's work has been exhibited at MUDEC (Museo delle Culture di

Milano Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

) Museum's permanent collection since 2021. In 2020, Delli was named as one of Italy's Top 50 "Women of the Year" by the national Italian daily newspaper,

. In 2023, she was nominated in the Community category for the

Milan Fashion Week Milan Fashion Week () is a clothing trade show held semi-annually in Milan, Italy. Upcoming autumn/winter fashions are showcased in February/March of each year, and upcoming spring/summer fashions are showcased in September/October of each year ...

Black Carpet Awards sponsored by

Vogue (magazine) ''Vogue'' (stylized in all caps), also known as American ''Vogue'', is a monthly Fashion journalism, fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers style news, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and Fashion show#Catwalk, runw ...

and Afro Fashion Week. In 2025, she was nominated for a Premio Andersen book award for ''Storia vera dell'Italia nera. Gli afrodiscendenti che hanno fatto la Storia d'Italia, dall'impero romano a oggi.''https://www.andersen.it/i-finalisti-del-premio-andersen-2025/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delli, Marilena Umuhoza 1981 births Living people People from Bergamo Italian writers Italian women writers Italian-language writers Rwandan writers Italian people of Rwandan descent Rwandan people of Italian descent Italian photographers Italian filmmakers Italian documentary filmmakers