Igiaba Scego is a Somali Italian novelist and journalist. She writes for several national newspapers such as Internazionale. She was born in Rome to Somali parents who had emigrated to Italy following Siad Barre's 1969 coup d'état. Scego's father had been a well-known politician in Somalia and had held posts such as ambassador and foreign minister. In 2010, Scego published a narrative memoir, La mia casa è dove sono (Rizzoli), which was awarded Premio Mondello. She is also the author of the novel Beyond Babylon, published in English in 2019.