Deledda, day LEHD dah, Grazia (1871-1936), an Italian author, won the 1926 Nobel Prize for literature. Deledda wrote about 40 novels and many short stories. Her best fiction is set among the peasants of her native Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. She used the primitive Sardinian landscape as a symbol for the difficulties faced by the men and women in her stories. Deledda deals with the inner experiences and passions of her characters. In many stories, the ancient customs of Sardinia come into conflict with modern attitudes.