Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
A Void, translated from the original French La Disparition, is a 300-page French lipogrammatic novel, written in 1969 by Georges Perec, entirely without using the letter e, following Oulipo constraints. Perec would go on to write with the inverse constraint in Les Revenentes, with only the vowel “e” present in the work. Ian Monk would later translate Les Revenentes into English under the title The Exeter Text.
Alessandro Baricco is an Italian writer, director and performer. His novels have been translated into a number of languages.
Michael Pitt is an American actor, model, and musician. In film, he has appeared in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Bully (2001), Murder by Numbers (2002), The Dreamers (2003), Last Days (2005), Silk (2007), Funny Games (2007), I Origins (2014), and Ghost in the Shell (2017). In television, he portrayed Henry Parker in the teen drama Dawson's Creek (1999–2000), Jimmy Darmody in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011), and Mason Verger in the second season of the NBC series Hannibal (2014).
Joscelyn Godwin is a composer, musicologist, and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism, and music in the occult.
Gesualdo Bufalino, was an Italian writer who lived in Sicily for most of his life.
Silk is a 2007 drama film directed by François Girard. An international co-production of Canada, Italy, and Japan, Silk is an adaptation of Italian author Alessandro Baricco's 1996 novel of the same name. It had its world premiere at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2007.
Daniel Pennac is a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay Chagrin d'école.
The Czar's Madman is a 1978 novel by Estonian writer Jaan Kross.
Enzo Sellerio was an Italian photographer, publisher, and collector.
Ngarmpun Vejjajiva is a Thai novelist and translator. She was the recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award for Thailand in 2006 for her first novel, The Happiness of Kati. A wheelchair user, she has had cerebral palsy since birth and finds comfort in immersing herself in the imaginary world of reading and writing. As is customary for Thais, she has a short nickname, thus many people know her as "Jane". Ngarmpun is the sister of Thailand's former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Marco Ponti is an Italian film director.
The production of silk originated in Neolithic China within the Yangshao culture. Though it would later reach other places in the world, the art of silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened at 114 BC. Even after trade opened, China maintained a virtual monopoly over silk production for another thousand years. The use of silk within China was not confined to clothing alone, and silk was used for a number of applications, such as writing. Within clothing, the color of silk worn also held social importance, and formed an important guide of social class during the Tang dynasty of China.
Mercè Canela is a Catalan writer and translator.
Thomas Glavinic is an Austrian writer. With Kathrin Röggla and Daniel Kehlmann, he is among other contemporary Austrian authors being perceived as significantly shaping the literary discussion in Austria.
Peter Constantine is a British and American literary translator who has translated literary works from German, Russian, French, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Italian, Albanian, Dutch, and Slovene.
The Oak and the Calf, subtitled Sketches of Literary Life in the Soviet Union, is a memoir by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about his attempts to publish work in his own country. Solzhenitsyn began writing the memoir in April 1967, when he was 48 years old, and added supplements in 1971, 1973, and 1974. The work was first published in Russian in 1975 under the title Бодался телёнок с дубом. It has been translated into English by Harry Willetts.
Alona Kimhi is an Israeli award-winning author and former actress.
Jan Geurt Gaarlandt is a Dutch journalist, poet, translator, editor and novelist. He writes novels under the pseudonym Otto de Kat.
Maja Novak is a Slovenian writer, translator and journalist.
