Claudia Durastanti (born 8 June 1984) is an Italian writer and translator.
Claudia Durastanti | |
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.png) Claudia Durastanti (2017) | |
| Born | 8 June 1984 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, translator, journalist |
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| Years active | 2010–present |
Early life
Durastanti was born in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bensonhurst to two deaf Italian parents, who divorced in 1990. After their divorce, Durastanti (aged 6) moved to the Basilicata region of southern Italy with her mother. This and other aspects of her life (like an incident in which her father kidnapped her as a child) are described in her semi-autobiographical novel La Straniera (published in English as Strangers I Know).[1][2][3][4]
Durastanti studied cultural anthropology at the Sapienza University of Rome and continued her studies at De Montfort University. She then returned to Rome where she earned a master's degree in publishing and journalism.[5]
Career
Durastanti was shortlisted for the 2019 Strega Prize and Viareggio Prize with La Straniera (La nave di Teseo, 2019). The book is translated into twenty-one languages and is being adapted into a TV show.[1]
Her work has appeared in Granta, the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Serving Library.
She is a board member of the Turin International Book Fair and co-founded the Italian Festival of Literature in London.[6]
She translated works by Joshua Cohen and Donna Haraway, as well as Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.[6]
She writes a music column for Internazionale and serves as a curator for the feminist imprint La Tartaruga, founded by Laura Lepetit in 1975.
Personal life
At various points in her life, she has lived in Brooklyn, Basilicata, London, and Rome. After the publication of Strangers I Know, she briefly lived in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, before moving back to Rome, where she lived as of January 2023.[7] [1] [8]
Works
In Italian
- Un giorno verrò a lanciare sassi alla tua finestra, Venezia, Marsilio, 2010 ISBN 978-88-317-0572-1.
- A Chloe, per le ragioni sbagliate, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013 ISBN 978-88-317-1670-3.
- Cleopatra va in prigione, Roma, minimum fax, 2016 ISBN 978-88-7521-745-7.
- La straniera, Milano, La nave di Teseo, 2019 ISBN 978-88-93447-75-1.[6]
In English
- Cleopatra Goes To Prison, translator Christine Donougher, Dublin : The Dedalus Press, 2020. ISBN 9781910213964
- Strangers I Know, translator Elizabeth Harris, Fitzcarraldo Editions, January 2022.[9]