After this, I took private lessons in Italian from an elementary school teacher. He gave me themes to write about, and some of them turned out so well that he told me to publish them in a newspaper.

Deledda describes a formative step in her self-education: lacking a conventional academic path, she seeks instruction wherever it is available and turns disciplined practice (assigned “themes”) into publishable prose. The anecdote highlights two recurring elements in her career story—linguistic apprenticeship (mastering standard Italian beyond her Sardinian milieu) and early external validation that nudged her from private exercise into public authorship. It also underscores how literary vocation can be catalyzed by modest, local mentorship rather than elite institutions, aligning with Deledda’s broader trajectory as a largely autodidact who nevertheless achieved national and international recognition.