Biography of Susanna Tamaro

Born in Trieste in 1957 into a family related to the famous writer Italo Svevo, Susanna Tamaro grew up with her maternal grandmother, who became her guardian when her parents separated immediately after she was born.
After qualifying at a teachers' training college, she moved to Rome and enrolled on a film directing course. In 1979 she worked as Salvatore Samperi's assistant on "Liquirizia", where she also made a brief appearance as an obsessive pinball player. She began her film career with a number of television documentaries.
In the meantime she wrote novels and short stories, eventually publishing "La testa fra le nuvole" (1989), which won her the Elsa Morante prize.
Her literary powers became more finely tuned in the short stories of "Per voce sola (For solo voice)" (1991, Pen Club prize), which won her the esteem of influential critics (Grazia Cherchi for instance wrote glowing in praise of her) but no interest at all with the public.
This was followed by the children's book "Cuore di ciccia" (1992), a tale of a plump boy that perhaps contained autobiographic aspects, and finally the best-seller "Va’ dove ti porta il cuore (Follow Your Heart)" (1994). The most successful Italian book of the century with sales of two and a half million copies, it was adapted for the cinema in 1995 by director Cristina Comencini.
In 1997 she published the novel "Anima mundi", which however received slating criticism and was unable to repeat the sales success of its predecessor.
In the same year she published "Cara Mathilda", a collection of letters and reflections that appeared during a year in "Famiglia cristiana"; then "Verso casa (Turning Home: A Memoir)" (1999), a collection of writings on the theme of spirituality. The rather unsuccessful "Rispondimi" (2001) failed to convince the critics and received a far cooler welcome from the public than previous works; it was followed, in 2002, by "Più fuoco più vento".
Shy of literary circles, society life and television appearances, Susanna Tamaro now lives in the country near Orvieto, surrounded by her beloved animals.

Biography of Susanna Tamaro

Born in Trieste in 1957 into a family related to the famous writer Italo Svevo, Susanna Tamaro grew up with her maternal grandmother, who became her guardian when her parents separated immediately after she was born.
After qualifying at a teachers' training college, she moved to Rome and enrolled on a film directing course. In 1979 she worked as Salvatore Samperi's assistant on "Liquirizia", where she also made a brief appearance as an obsessive pinball player. She began her film career with a number of television documentaries.
In the meantime she wrote novels and short stories, eventually publishing "La testa fra le nuvole" (1989), which won her the Elsa Morante prize.
Her literary powers became more finely tuned in the short stories of "Per voce sola (For solo voice)" (1991, Pen Club prize), which won her the esteem of influential critics (Grazia Cherchi for instance wrote glowing in praise of her) but no interest at all with the public.
This was followed by the children's book "Cuore di ciccia" (1992), a tale of a plump boy that perhaps contained autobiographic aspects, and finally the best-seller "Va’ dove ti porta il cuore (Follow Your Heart)" (1994). The most successful Italian book of the century with sales of two and a half million copies, it was adapted for the cinema in 1995 by director Cristina Comencini.
In 1997 she published the novel "Anima mundi", which however received slating criticism and was unable to repeat the sales success of its predecessor.
In the same year she published "Cara Mathilda", a collection of letters and reflections that appeared during a year in "Famiglia cristiana"; then "Verso casa (Turning Home: A Memoir)" (1999), a collection of writings on the theme of spirituality. The rather unsuccessful "Rispondimi" (2001) failed to convince the critics and received a far cooler welcome from the public than previous works; it was followed, in 2002, by "Più fuoco più vento".
Shy of literary circles, society life and television appearances, Susanna Tamaro now lives in the country near Orvieto, surrounded by her beloved animals.