(Turin, 1958) Italian novelist, playwright and journalist, born in Turin. Alessandro Baricco directed Raitre’s book programme, Pickwick, and in 1994 founded the Holden writing school (named in homage to J.D. Salinger), which has been a great success under his management. With Silk, which has been an uninterrupted international success, he is now seen as one of the great contemporary Italian writers. He is also the author of the novels Lands of Glass (1991), Ocean Sea (2008), City (2013) and Without Blood (2005), as well as the theatrical monologue Novecento (1994) and the non-fiction Il genio in fuga and L'anima di Hegel e le mucche del Wisconsin. Other works include Homero, Iliada (2004), Questa storia (2007; 2011 FriulAdria ‘La storia in un romanzo’ Award) and Emmaus (2013). Some of his recent works are Mr. Gwyn and Three Times at Dawn (2014), Smith & Wesson (2014) and La Sposa giovane (2015).