by Martina Giacalone and Rosalba Giacalone
The human being is  homo sapiens  and homo dicens . To tell is to exist, to have a role in the world, even in the microcosm in which we live.
Writing is telling. The birth of writing was such an epochal turning point in man's life that scholars make history begin from this event.
And although the title of writer is used only for those who achieve a certain notoriety by publishing their works, however, we are all writers. We all write. We learn as children and we use the characters and letters of our languages to give a shape, make thoughts, opinions consistent, visible...
But, beyond the obvious practical need, why does man write?
Gesualdo Bufalino said that "writing is three things: religion, medicine and love".
Man, that is, writes to confess, to tell about himself. Inevitably, in fact, one writes about what one knows, one transfigures one's experiences.
And we are not referring only to works such as the Confessiones of Saint Augustine, the Secretum of Petrarch or... the autobiography of the character of the moment. Â
Even choosing one word over another, describing a certain place, a particular sensation, reveal something about the writer.
To say that writing is a medicine we cannot fail to mention Zeno's conscience by Italo Svevo. The protagonist is invited by his doctor to put his life in writing to recover from his illness.
So writing is cathartic and many do it by entrusting their thoughts to a diary. Anne Frank did it to get out of the drama...
Finally, writing is creating: stories, characters, places... Let's think of Salgari, Verne or Camilleri's real and imaginary Sicily.
Anyone who gives life does so out of love. And creativity, understood not only on an artistic level, but also as a gift of existence, is the spark of God in our soul.
