Andrea Bajani

Italy | 2015

Andrea Bajani (born in Rome 1975) is one of the most respected and award-winning novelists of contemporary Italian literature. After his debut in 2005 with Cordiali saluti (Cordial Waves), it was with Se consideri le colpe (If you consider the faults) in 2007, which brought him a great deal of attention. Antonio Tabucchi wrote about his debut novel, “I read this book with an excitement that Italian literature hasn’t made me feel in ages.” In just a few months, the book won the Super Mondello Prize, the Brancati Prize, the Recanati Prize and the Lo Straniero Prize.

After three years, with his novel Ogni promessa (Every promise), he won the oldest and most prestigious Italian literary award, the Bagutta Prize. His latest book, Life is not in alphabetical order (La vita non è in ordine alfabetico), 2014, recently won the Settembrini Prize.

He is also an author of journalistic essays and regularly contributes to the daily newspaper la Repubblica, and teaches creative writing in many universities. 

Bajani is admired by, among others, Emmanuel Carrère, Enrique Vila-Matas and Dubravka Ugresic, and has been published by some of the most prestigious European publishers, such as Gallimard, Siruela, MacLehose, DTV, Atheneum. He is member of the jury of the Premio Von Rezzori Città di Firenze. He lived in Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin, and now is living in Torino.