Alessandro Baricco
SPECIAL „BOOKSTAR“ Х10 AWARD
for outstanding achievements in literature
Alessandro Baricco (1958) is an Italian novelist, screenwriter, literary and music critic, journalist, pianist, director, and essayist. He won the "Viareggio Prize" in 1993, along with numerous other awards. His works have been translated into many languages. He has written fourteen novels, three essays, and several scripts and plays.
After completing the state classical high school "Vittorio Alfieri" in Turin, he graduated in philosophy at the University of Turin, with a thesis on aesthetics, mentored by Gianni Vattimo. He inherited a passion for classical music from his parents, and his vast knowledge of the subject is the result of self-directed research. Baricco also graduated from a piano program. As a music critic, he collaborated with the newspaper "La Repubblica" and contributed to the cultural section of "La Stampa." He was one of the first hosts of "Rai Tre Suite," a show broadcast on the third channel of Radio Rai.
In 1994, he founded the Holden School of Contemporary Humanities in Turin, a creative writing school that covers not only literature but also drama, screenwriting, journalism, video games, novels, and short stories. The school is named after Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye."
His first book, Land of Glass, earned him European recognition and the Prix Medicis and Campiello Prize. In 1993, he published “Ocean Sea”, one of his most popular novels, while 1996 was the year of “Silk”, which was later adapted into a film directed by François Girard, starring Keira Knightley, Michael Pitt, and Alfred Molina. This novel brought him international fame. His theatrical monologue Novecento was adapted into the film The Legend of 1900 by Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, with Tim Roth in the lead role.
Between May and October 2006, Baricco published a series of articles in La Repubblica in which he critically expressed his views on the phenomenon of globalization, later compiled into the book “Next”.
In 2018, he published his latest four novels as a tetralogy:” Emmaus” (2009), “Mr. Gwyn” (2011), Three Times at Dawn (2012), and “The Young Bride” (2015), accompanied by a new foreword. That same year, “The Game” was released, which follows and analyzes the history of the internet. At the end of 2023, he released “Abel”, his first novel since “The Young Bride” in 2015.
Baricco's work in television, theater, and film is also extensive and significant.
He has two children and is a big fan of the football club Torino.
Abel (COMING SOON)
Translated to Macedonian: Jovana Karanikić Josimovska
Antolog, Skopje, 2024
Abel Crow lives in the imaginary West. He's been a skilled shooter since childhood. As he himself says, he became a man at the age of eleven and an adult at nineteen, when, as the eldest son, he was left alone to take care of his brothers and sister. At twenty-seven, Abel turns into a legend when, as a sheriff, he stops a robbery by firing two pistols simultaneously, hitting two different targets. Few people are capable of this shooting technique, called "Mystic".
Baricco describes the genre of his latest work as a "metaphysical western".
Other translations:
"The game: stories from the digital world for adventurous boys and girls" [translation from Italian: Živko Grozdanoski], "Antolog", Skopje, 2020.
"The game" [translation from Italian: Živko Grozdanoski], "Antolog", Skopje, 2019.
"The Young Wife" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Antolog", Skopje, 2019.
"Silk" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Antolog", Skopje, 2019.
"Castles of Anger" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Antolog", Skopje, 2017.
"This story" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Antolog", Skopje, 2015.
"Three Times at Dawn" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Antolog", Skopje, 2014.
"Mr. Gwyn" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunovic], "Ili-ili", Skopje, 2013.
"Emmaus" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Antolog", Skopje, 2013.
"Ocean Sea" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Tri", Skopje, 2011.
"Next" [translation from Italian: Živko Grozdanoski], "Antolog", Skopje, 2010.
"City" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Tabernakul", Skopje, 2008.
"Novecento" [translation from Italian: Ljiljana Uzunović], "Az-buki", Skopje, 2003.