Gianni Celati

Gianni Celati has been living abroad for many years now. He was born in Italy, in Sondrio in 1937. He made his debut with a small novel entitled Comiche (Einaudi, 1971), presented to the public by Italo Calvino. Later, again with Einaudi, he published three long adventure stories Le avventure di Guizzardi (1972, Bagutta Prize; re-edition by Feltrinelli in 1994), then a volume of essays on the European narrative tradition, Finzioni occidentali (1975, reprinted by Einaudi in 1986), La Banda dei Sospiri (1976, Einaudi) and Lunario del Paradiso (Einaudi in 1978 and reissued by Feltrinelli in 1996), which were reprinted in a single volume in 1989 by Feltrinelli, under the title of Parlamenti buffi.
After a long silence, he returned to fiction with some books of short stories published by Feltrinelli: Narratori delle pianure (1984, Cinque Scuole and and Grinzane-Cavour Prizes), Quattro novelle sulle apparenze (1987, Feltrinelli), Parlamenti buffi and Verso la foce (both 1989, Feltrinelli).
His other works include L'Orlando innamorato raccontato in prosa (Einaudi 1994), Recita dell'attore Vecchiatto nel teatro di Rio Saliceto (Feltrinelli 1996), in 1998 Avventure in Africa has published by Feltrinelli and nine new stories collected in Cinema naturale (2001, Feltinelli). In the years 1996-97 he was one of "Il Semplice" almanac editors.
After the publication of his Fata Morgana (2005), ethnographic descriptions of an imaginary people, issue 28 of Riga was dedicated to Celati. In March 2013 Einaudi published James Joyce's Ulysses in a new version translated by Celati, an over seven-years work and long overdue.
In 2016, an extensive collection of fictions entitled Romanzi has published by Mondadori's I Meridiani series, chronicles and tales, edited by Marco Belpoliti and Nunzia Palmieri.
Gianni Celati translated Roland Barthes, L.-F. Céline, Jonathan Swift, Jack London, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad and other French and English authors.
Since 1991, in collaboration with the production company Pierrot e la Rosa, he directed four documentary films: Strada provinciale delle anime (1991, 58 minutes), Il mondo di Luigi Ghirri (1999, 52 minutes), Case sparse. Visioni di case che crollano (2003, 61 minutes) and Diol Kadd. Vita, diari e riprese di un villaggio del Senegal (2010, 90 minutes).
In 2003 Gianni Celati also starred in the documentary film Mondonuovo by director Davide Ferrario.

Filmography
Provincial Road of Souls, Italy, 1991. Produced by Pierrot e la Rosa/Rai 3.
The world of Luigi Ghirri, Italy, 1999. Produced by Pierrot e la Rosa.
Scattered Houses. Visions of collapsing houses, Italy, 2002. Produced by Pierrot e la Rosa/Stefilm.
Diol Kadd. Life, diaries and footages in a village in Senegal, Italy, 2010. Produced by Pierrot e la Rosa/Paofilm.

Nationality: Italy

Movie

The world of Luigi Ghirri