Viola Di Grado (Catania, June 4, 1987) is an Italian writer. With her first novel 70% Acrylic 30% Wool, published when she was 23 years old, she became the youngest winner of the Premio Campiello Opera Prima and the youngest finalist for the Premio Strega.
Daughter of the writer Elvira Seminara , she earned a Bachelor's in Eastern Languages (Chinese and Japanese) at the University of Turin and a Master's in East Asian Studies at the University of London. She lived in Leeds and Kyoto and she is currently living in London.
Some of her works were published in Vogue, Nuovi Argomenti, La Psicoanalisi, Architectural Digest, La Stampa, and other magazines and anthologies. [1] In 2011, her debut novel 70% Acrylic 30% Wool obtained several qualifications, including the Premio Campiello Opera Prima for its "linguistic invention pushed to the visionariness". In the same year, a theatre and music performance based on the book took place at the Festivaletteratura in Mantua, where Di Grado herself played the role of the protagonist. In 2012, after being translated into various languages, [2] 70% Acrylic 30% Wool was included in the Marin Independent Journal′s top ten best-selling books in the United States. [3]
In 2013, Di Grado released her second novel, Hollow Heart. Moreover, she was granted with the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship to work on her third book, and was selected as one of the writers who opened the Vancouver Writers Fest. [4] Di Grado was also mentioned as one of the most representative authors of the last decades in the Garzanti Dictionary 2013.
In 2015, Hollow Heart gained the first place in the Goodreads list of the most voted books for the Man Booker International Prize [5] and in the following year it was among the finalists for several national and international awards (PEN Literary Award, [6] IPTA Italian Prose in Translation Award, [7] International Dublin Literary Award 2017). The novel tells the story of a 25-year-old girl after her suicide, in an attempt to pull down the barrier which separates life and death in the Western culture and "to present death not as an event, but as what it truly is: a process". [8]
In April 2016 she published Bambini di ferro, a novel whose setting is a Japan of the near future, a world where even love and affection are no longer spontaneous and have to be artificially recreated by tailor-made machines.
In 2017 she was the only Italian author to participate in the Sydney Writers' Festival and the Auckland Festival in Australia and New Zealand. [9]
With her last novel Fuoco al cielo (March 2019), Di Grado was awarded the Premio Viareggio jury's selection.
Some of Di Grado's main themes are the incommunicability, the alienation and the ego's own illusoriness, explored through a linguistic research rich in sonorities and symbolisms. [10] In a radio interview, she claims she wants to "forget the language", following the motto of the Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuāngzǐ: "Language is like a fish trap. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap".
She's a contributor for La Stampa and she has appeared in major festivals worldwide. Her works have been translated into over fifteen languages.
• 70% Acrylic 30% Wool (Settanta acrilico trenta lana, Edizioni e/o, 2011), Europa Editions.
• Hollow Heart (Cuore cavo, Edizioni e/o, 2013), Europa Editions.
• Bambini di ferro, La nave di Teseo, 2016.
• Fuoco al cielo, La nave di Teseo, 2019.
Nicoletta Vallorani is an Italian science fiction writer.
The Premio Campiello is an annual Italian literary prize. A jury of literary experts identifies books published during the year and, in a public hearing, selects five of those as finalists. These books are called Premio Selezione Campiello. Then a jury of 300 readers representing different social, cultural and professional groups from each region of Italy, each with one vote, decides the winner of the selection. Since 2004, the jury of literary experts awards a Premio Campiello Opera Prima for the best debut.
Dacia Maraini is an Italian writer. Maraini's work focuses on women's issues, and she has written numerous plays and novels. She has won awards for her work, including the Formentor Prize for L'età del malessere (1963); the Premio Fregene for Isolina (1985); the Premio Campiello and Book of the Year Award for La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa (1990); and the Premio Strega for Buio (1999). In 2013, Irish Braschi's biographical documentary I Was Born Travelling told the story of her life, focusing in particular on her imprisonment in a concentration camp in Japan during World War II and the journeys she made around the world with her partner Alberto Moravia and close friends Pier Paolo Pasolini and Maria Callas. In 2020 she adheres to Empathism.
Margaret Mazzantini is an Italian-Irish writer and actress. She became a film, television and stage actor, but is best known as a writer. Mazzantini began her acting career in 1980 starring in the cult horror classic Antropophagus, she has also appeared in television and theatre. As a successful writer, her novels include Non ti muovere which was adapted into a film of the same name and is directed by her husband Sergio Castellitto and stars Penélope Cruz. Her career as a writer and actress has earned her several awards and nominations including Campiello Awards, a Golden Ticket Award, and a Goya Award.
Sandro Veronesi is an Italian novelist, essayist, and journalist. After earning a degree in architecture at the University of Florence, he opted for a writing career in his mid to late twenties. Veronesi published his first book at the age of 25, a collection of poetry that has remained his only venture into verse writing. He has since published five novels, three books of essays, one theatrical piece, numerous introductions to novels and collections of essays, interviews, screenplays, and television programs.
Roberto Pazzi was an Italian novelist and poet. His works have been translated into twenty-six languages. He was widely recognized in Italian literary circles for his poetry and novels. His Debut novel, Cercando l'Imperatore in 1985, received a number of international awards and started a prolific career of historical and contemporary novels.
Susanna Tamaro is an Italian novelist and film director. She is an author of novels, stories, magazine articles, and children's literature. Her novel Va' dove ti porta il cuore was a bestseller, translated into 44 languages, and received the 1994 Premio Donna Citta di Roma.
Antonia Arslan is an Italian writer and academic of Armenian origin.
Alessandro Piperno is an Italian writer and literary critic of Jewish descent, having a Jewish father and a Catholic mother.
Valeria Parrella is an Italian author, playwright and activist.
Carmine Abate is an Italian writer. He has written numerous short stories, novels and essays, mainly focusing on issues of migration and the encounters between disparate cultures.
Michela Murgia was an Italian novelist, playwright, and radio personality. She was a winner of the Premio Campiello, the Mondello International Literary Prize and Dessì prize, and was an active feminist and left-wing voice in the Italian public scene, speaking out on themes such as euthanasia and LGBTQ+ rights.
Marta Morazzoni is an Italian educator and writer.
Giuliana Morandini was an Italian writer.
Simona Vinci is an Italian writer.
Francesca Melandri is an Italian novelist, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker. She was the recipient of the Rapallo Carige Prize for Più alto del mare in 2012.
Rosella Postorino is an Italian author. In 2013, she won the International Prize Città di Penne, and in 2018 she won the Rapallo Carige Prize and the Premio Campiello.
Francesca Manfredi is an Italian author.
Giorgio Fontana is an Italian writer currently living and working in Milan.
Claudia Durastanti is an Italian writer and translator.
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