Chiara Barzini (born 1979) is an Italian writer known for her semi-autobiographical novel ''Things that Happened Before the Earthquake'' set in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

section of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in the early 1990s.

Early life and education

Chiara Barzini was born in 1979 in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, the oldest child of film director Andrea Barzini and Stephania Barzini. Her grandfather was the Italian journalist and politician Luigi Barzini Jr. and her great grandfather was the Italian war correspondent, journalist, and pro-Fascist politician Luigi Barzini Sr. When Barzini was 15 in 1994, she moved to the United States with her parents and younger brother, where the family lived in

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

and she attended

Van Nuys High School Van Nuys High School (VNHS) is a public high school in the Van Nuys district of Los Angeles, belonging to the Los Angeles Unified School District: District 2. The school is home to a Residential Program and three Magnet Programs—Math/Science, P ...

. When her parents moved back to Italy in 1999, Barzini stayed in California and attended the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. Later she moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, worked in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

as a waitress, and studied creative writing at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

Career

Barzini has worked as a writer on films, including collaborating with

Ginevra Elkann Ginevra Elkann (born 24 September 1979) is an Italian film producer and director, heiress and socialite. She is a member of the Agnelli family and granddaughter of Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli. Early life Elkann was born in London, on ...

on both '' If Only (Magari)'' and '' I Told You So (Te l’avevo detto)''. She has written short stories and magazine articles, and in 2017 published her first novel, ''Things that Happened Before the Earthquake,'' a coming of age ''

roman a clef Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

'' narrative set in the

in the early 1990s. The novel, which received positive reviews from newspapers and magazines such as the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''Vogue'', is currently being adapted as a film by

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...

. She has been published in a wide variety of magazines including Noon,

Bomb Magazine ''Bomb'' (stylized in all caps as ''BOMB'') is an American arts magazine edited by artists and writers, published quarterly in print and daily online. It is composed primarily of interviews between creative people working in a variety of discipli ...

, the New Review of Literature, the

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

, Rolling Stone Italy, Italian Vanity Fair, and

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

Awards

In 2019 Barzini won the San Fernando Valley Award for Fiction from the Friends of the Library at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

Personal life

Barzini's partner is Luca Infascelli. She has two children, Sebastiano and Anita. Barzini's aunt is the Italian actress and model

Benedetta Barzini Benedetta Barzini (born 22 September 1943 in Porto Santo Stefano)BENEDETTA BARZINI
VOGUE ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barzini, Chiara Living people 1979 births Writers from Rome University of California, Santa Cruz alumni City College of New York alumni Italian emigrants to the United States