Cristina Ali Farah is a famous italo-Somali writer who was born in Italy to a Somali father and an Italian mother, Farah grew up in Mogadishu from 1976 to 1991. Her novels and poetry have been published in various magazines (in Italian and English) such as El Ghibli, Caffè, Crocevia, and in the anthologies "Poesia della migrazione in italiano" ("Poetry of migration in Italy") and "A New Map: The poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy". In 2006, Farah won the Italian national literary competition, "Lingua Madre" ("Mother Tongue"). She was also honored by the city of Torino at the "International Torino Book Fair". In 2007, she published her first novel, Madre piccola ("Little Mother"), based on her own experience living in Mogadishu. As of 2014, she writes some works in Somali language.