International Authors Book Club

International Authors Book Club

Read an author of your choosing from a predetermined country. December's nation is Italy. We will meet each third Thursday of the month to discuss your author, their works, and any themes they explore.

To get you started, check out our list of a few literary award-winning Italian authors from the 20th and 21st centuries with some details about them. The bolded fiction titles are available through your Santa Fe Public Library.

For disability accommodations, please contact a Programs Manager for SFPL at 505-955-6786 or 505-955-2817.

Suggested authors:

Stefania Auci

Known for The Florios of Sicily, its sequel The Triumph of Lions and the new Fall of the Florios (2024), all three novels focus on the life of the Florio family in Sicily, who became one of the most prominent merchant and entrepreneurial families in Italy and Europe during the 1800s.

Alessandro Baricco

Arguably one of Italy’s most famous contemporary writers, he was born in Turin in 1958, where he studied philosophy and piano at university. He soon started his writing career as a music and cultural critic for the Italian media.

His first novel, Castles of Anger (1991), won Italy’s Prix Medicis and the Campiello Prize. His other novels include Ocean Sea, Silk  and Without Blood.

Andrea Camilleri

Known for his well-regarded Inspector Salvo Montalbano series set in the fictional town of Vigata, starting with The Shape of Water, The Patience of the Spider and Paper Moon.

A TV adaptation of the series proved so popular, Camilleri’s hometown of Porto Empedocie in Sicily changed its name to Porto Empedocie Vigata to capitalize on the tourism dollars.

Giorgio De Maria

Before a mental breakdown cut short his two-decade career, De Maria distinguished himself as one of Italy's most unique and eccentric weird fiction masters. De Maria drew inspiration from the Turinese underbelly of occultism, secret societies and radical politics.

His debut novel, The Transgressionists (available as an ebook) portrays a cell of malicious telepaths who meet in the cafés and jazz clubs of 1960s Turin to plot world domination. After experiencing the worst of their power, an embittered office clerk resolves to join them and prove himself worthy to share in their villainy.

Giuseppe di Lampedusa

The Sicilian’s only novel, The Leopard, published two years after his death from emphysema, is considered by many to be the best Italian literature of the 20th Century.

Set in the 1860's, it tells the story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy and revolution. A Criterion Collection movie based on the novel is available as is Lampedusa, a fiction work focusing on the author working on his novel as his heath declined.

Umberto Eco

Set in a wealthy Italian monastery in the 14th century, The Name of the Rose follows a Franciscan friar and his young apprentice as they investigate a series of mysterious deaths within the monastery. As they navigate the labyrinthine library and decipher cryptic manuscripts, they uncover a complex plot involving forbidden books, secret societies, and the Inquisition. The novel is a blend of historical fiction, mystery, and philosophical exploration, delving into themes of truth, knowledge, and the power of the written word. Other well-regarded works by the late Italian medieval historian include Foucault’s Pendulum, Baudolino, The Prague Cemetery and Numero Zero, his final novel.

Elena Ferrante (pseudonym)

The Neopolitan Novels series is a set of four novels published from 2011-15 that tell the life story of two perceptive and intelligent girls, Lila and Lenu, born in Naples (Ferrante’s alleged hometown) in 1944, who try to create lives for themselves within a violent and stultifying culture. The series consists of My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and The Story of the Lost Child, which won the Strega Prize, Italy’s top literary award. Earlier works include her debut Troubling Love, Days of Abandonment and The Lost Daughter.

Paolo Giordano

Giordano is a professional scientist specializing in particle physics. The Solitude of Prime Numbers, his first novel, took Italy by storm where it has sold over a million copies. He also penned the short essay How Contagion Works: Science, Awareness, and Community in Times of Global Crises, which shaped Italy’s national conversation around the coronavirus pandemic.

Elsa Morante

Best known for her landmark novel History, Arturo’s Island follows the adolescent Arturo through his days on the isolated Neapolitan island of Procida, where -- his mother long deceased, his father often absent, and a dog as his sole companion -- he roams the countryside. This quiet, meandering existence is upended when his father brings home a 16-year-old bride, Nunziatella. Arturo's yearning for his naive stepmother leads to a slow fraying of family relationships.

Alberto Moravia

The late novelist and journalist earned his international reputation with frank, finely-observed stories of love and sex at all levels of society. In Conjugal Love, he explores an imperiled relationship with his customary unadorned style, psychological penetration, and narrative art.