Maria Carolina Foi, Full Professor of German Literature at the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste, has been elected a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (German Academy for Language and Literature).

Founded in 1949 and based in Darmstadt, the Academy brings together writers, scholars, and intellectuals who have made outstanding contributions to German-language culture. Its membership also includes jurists and scientists distinguished by their literary sensitivity. Among its members have been figures such as Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Elias Canetti. The Academy also awards the Georg Büchner Prize, the most prestigious lifetime literary award for authors writing in German.

After beginning her academic studies in Law at the University of Padua, Maria Carolina Foi graduated in German Literature from the University of Trieste under the supervision of Claudio Magris.

She subsequently received prestigious research fellowships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She also served as an External Senior Fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies. Since 2008, she has been Full Professor of German Literature at the University of Trieste. Her main research interests include the relationship between literature and law, Viennese Modernism, and Italian-German cultural transfer. She has translated and edited Italian editions of classics by authors including Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Schiller.

From 2020 to 2024, she served as Distinguished Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin, appointed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. In 2025, she joined the jury of the Deutscher Buchpreis, Germany's most prestigious annual award for the best German-language novel.

Her election to the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung confirms Professor Foi's international standing and represents a source of particular pride for the University of Trieste, whose excellence in research has been recognised by one of Europe's most prestigious cultural institutions.