Diego De Silva is a criminal lawyer whose first novel, La donna di scorta, was published in 1999. His follow-up, Certi bambini, about growing up in the south of Italy, was turned into a film by the Frazzi Bros. His novel I Want to Watch was translated into English and has been compared to Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. He has since written Da un’altra carne and Non avevo capito niente. He is a regular contributor to Il Mattino, an Italian newspaper.
Marcello Fois is an award-winning Italian author, poet, and screenwriter, born in Nuoro in 1960. His first novel, Ferro recente, was published in 1992 and was followed by Picta, which won the Premio Calvino, and Nulla, winner of the Premio Dessi. He has written a crime trilogy — Sempre caro, Sangue dal cielo, and L’altro mundo — the first volume of which appeared in English as The Advocate. He has also written extensively for TV, radio, and film.
Cristiana Danila Formetta is a young Salerno author who has never set foot outside Italy. Her books include the collection Il nero che fa tendenza and the novella The Sex Lives of Chameleons, which was translated into English by Maxim Jakubowski. A frequent contributor to leading Italian underground magazines, Formetta is known for her complex mix of erotica and noir. She is currently writing her first full-length novel, while also working as an editor for an independent Italian publisher.
Enrico Franceschini is a well-known Italian journalist and broadcaster. Born in Bologna in 1956, he has worked for twenty years as a foreign correspondent for the newspaper La Repubblica, stationed in Moscow, New York, Washington, Jerusalem, and now London. He won the prestigious Europa Prize for his reporting of the 1994 popular uprising in Moscow. In addition to nonfiction, he has written novels, including La donna della Piazza Rossa and Fuori stagione.
Giuseppe Genna was born in Milan in 1969. His novels include Catrame, Assalto a un tempo devastato, In the Name of Ishmael (which was translated into English), Non toccare la pelle del drago, Grande Madre Rossa, and Dies Irae. He is also a member of the notorious Luther Blissett writing collective.
Maxim Jakubowski is a British editor and writer. Following a long career in book publishing, during which he was responsible for several major crime imprints, he opened London’s mystery bookshop Murder One. He reviews crime fiction for the Guardian, runs London’s Crime Scene Festival, and is an advisor to Italy’s annual Courmayeur Noir in Festival. His latest crime novel is Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer, and he edits the annual Best British Mysteries series.
Nicola Lagioia was born in Bari in 1973. He is one of the leading lights of a new generation of young Italian writers, having edited a number of anthologies, along with the Nichel imprint, for the publisher Minimum Fax. His first novel, Tre sistemi per sbarazzarsi di Tolstoj, was published in 2001, and was followed by a collection of essays, Occidente per principianti, and a nonfiction book, Babbo Natale.
Carlo Lucarelli is one of Italy’s national treasures: author, screenwriter, television personality, academic. He has written over thirty books, including the Bologna-set Grazia Negro series, Lupo mannaro, Almost Blue (winner of the British Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger Award), and Day After Day. His Inspector De Luca series, set during the time of the Salo Republic, has also been translated into English.
Francesca Mazzucato splits her time between the Ligurian coast and Bologna. A prolific and controversial writer, she is also an active presence on the web, with two important web sites: Books and Other Sorrows and Erotica. Her books include La sottomissione di Ludovica, Relazioni scandalosamente pure, Transgender Generation, Amore a Marsiglia, Hot Line, Web Cam, Diario di una blogger, Enigma Veneziano, L’anarchiste, and the recent collection Magnificat marsigliese.
Antonio Pascale was born in Naples in 1966 and now lives and works in Rome. His first book, La città distratta, a nonfiction story set in Caserta, won the Elsa Morante Award. He is also the author of the story collection La manutenzione degli affetti, and his controversial first novel, Passa la bellezza, was published in 2005. This was followed by S’è fatta ora and a travel book, Non è per cattiveria. He writes regularly for the newspaper La Repubblica.
Tommaso Pincio’s first book, M., a literary reinterpretation of Blade Runner, was published in 1999. Later novels include Lo spazio sfinito and the controversial Love-Shaped Story, which was translated into English, about the imaginary life of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. A fan of contemporary American writing, which he chronicles in the Italian edition of Rolling Stone and leading newspapers, Pincio lives in Rome. His writing pseudonym was inspired by Thomas Pynchon.
Evelina Santangelo was born and raised in Palermo. She studied English and linguistics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and worked as a journalist for L’Ora. She now works in book publishing in Turin, teaches creative writing at the Scuola Holden, and writes. She is the author of the novels L’occhio cieco del mondo, La lucertola color smeraldo, and Il giorno degli orsi volanti.
Antonio Scurati was born in Naples in 1969 and is a writer and academic, which includes his role as the coordinator of Bergamo University’s center for the language of war and violence. He has published several books of nonfiction, and his first novel, Il sopravvissuto, published in 2005, won the Premio Campiello. His major historical novels, Il rumore sordo della battaglia (2002) and Una storia romantica (2007), were best sellers in Italy.
Chiara Stangalino worked for many years for one of Italy’s leading publishing houses. She is now a freelance festival organizer, including her work on the Courmayeur Noir in Festival literary events and Festarch, the Sardinian architecture festival. She has also directed a documentary film about American crime writer Joe R. Lansdale. She lives in Turin.