ITALY
Paola Peretti (1986) is an Italian author and professor. Inspired by her own life and diagnosis with Stargardt disease, in her first novel “The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree” she tells a story about a girl that was diagnosed with this rare genetic disease that causes progressive sight loss leading to complete vision loss. So far she has published two novels: “The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree” (2018) and “Filippo, Me and the Cherry Tree” (2022).
Paola was born and lives in Verona. She has studied literature and philosophy. She graduated with a degree in publishing and journalism in 2011 and later worked as a collaborator to a local newspaper. She also worked as an Italian professor working with immigrant children from Senegal, Nigeria, China, Romania, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Moldova and Russia.
Fifteen years ago Paola was diagnosed with Stargardt disease which to this day, does not have a cure. She decided to turn her destiny into an autobiography filled with sensitivity, courage and tenderness as an ode to life.
Despite the obstacles she is faced with, Paola wishes to continue working with children focusing on topics like disability, differences and literature.
“I told myself: You wanted to be a writer. This is the perfect day to make a change. I believe that when we are faced with difficulties, we go back to our childhood, all of us. That’s the magic of writing, Mafalda can talk about loss, love, endurance, fear, human nature and differences in a much simpler way.”
La distanza tra me e il ciliegio (The distance between me and the cherry tree)
Translation to Macedonian: Iskra Dimkovska
"Antolog", Skopje, 2023
A tender and powerful story about childhood, courage, love and life.
Nine-year-old Mafalda wears glasses with yellow frames, has a cat named Otimo Turcaret, an Amazonian friend and a best friend named Philip. But she is up against a strange challenge. She was diagnosed with Stargart's disease, which causes gradual vision loss and eventually, leads to blindness. In her diary, she begins to write down all the things she will not be able to do – count the stars in the sky, play football with the boys, climb the cherry tree in the school yard. But soon she learns that there is another way of seeing. She measures the distance to the cherry tree with her steps… in the direction of the intoxicating smell… and starts a new list: the things she will still be able to do.
In the darkness that surrounds her, Mafalda, just like the Little Prince, learns to observe the world with her heart, not with her eyes.