Susanna Tamaro (; born 12 December 1957) is an Italian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and film director. She is an author of novels, stories, magazine articles, and children's literature. Her novel (''Follow Your Heart'') was a worldwide bestseller, translated into 44 languages and awarded with the 1994 .

Early life and education

Susanna Tamaro was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

in 1957 to a family of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

origins on her mother's side; she is a distant relative of the Italian writer

Italo Svevo Aron Hector Schmitz (19 December 186113 September 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo (), was an Italian and Austro-Hungarian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer. A close friend of Irish novelist and ...

. She has described her father as an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

and her mother as "cold and cruel". After her parents separated, she was raised in Trieste by her maternal grandmother and then by a care home. She received a scholarship to study at the , an Italian school of cinema located in Rome, where she obtained a diploma in

direction Direction may refer to: *Body relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction *Bearing (navigation) Mathemat ...

in 1977, beginning to work with director

Salvatore Samperi Salvatore Samperi (26 July 1944 – 4 March 2009) was an Italian film director. His 1973 film ''Malicious (1973 film), Malicious'' was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival and his 1979 film ''Ernesto (film), Ernesto' ...

. She worked as a writer and editor in the television industry for several years.

Writing career

In 1978, she started writing her first short stories. Her first novel ''Illmitz'' was completed in 1981 but rejected by all the publishing houses she approached. It was eventually published in 2013. In 1989, her novel (''Head in the Clouds'') was published by Marsilio. Her second novel (''Solo Voice'', 1991) won the

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

prize and was translated into several languages.

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

said of her second novel, "It has given me the joy of being moved without embarrassing me, as it happened to me when I read ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, ...

'' or certain pages of '' Amerika'', by Kafka." In 1991, she wrote a book for children ''Cuore di ciccia''. Her 1993 novel (''Follow Your Heart'') did not receive favorable reception from critics when it was first published,{{cite journal , last1=Tonkin , first1=Boyd , title=Short books about dying – Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro / Oblivion by Josephine Hart , journal=New Statesman & Society , date=June 30, 1995 , volume=8 , issue=359 , page=40, id={{ProQuest, but it became a bestseller{{cite news , last1=Solomon , first1=Charles , title=Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro , url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-25-bk-37370-story.html , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, date=August 25, 2006{{cite news , last1=Marshall , first1=Lee , title=Just one little lie , url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/just-one-little-lie-1588292.html , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, date=24 June 1995{{cite news , last1=Kellaway , first1=Kate , title=One from the heart Italians have bought a million copies of Susanna Tamaro's 'Follow Your Heart'. Kate Kellaway finds out why , work=

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, date=25 June 1995, id={{ProQuest, {{cite news , last1=Williams , first1=Daniel , title=Italian Page-Turner , newspaper=

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, date=4 Dec 1995, id={{ProQuest, and sold 15 million copies by 2008. It is described as the "Italian book most sold in the 20th century"; as of 2008, about 25,000 copies had sold in the United States.{{cite news , last1=Povoledo , first1=Elisabetta , title=Coming to America from Italy - No, not another mafia story , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/business/worldbusiness/03iht-publish04.1.14962745.html , access-date=16 March 2022 , work=New York Times , date=August 3, 2008 The novel won the Premio Donna Citta di Roma award in 1994.{{cite news , title=Follow Your Heart , url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susanna-tamaro/follow-your-heart/ , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

, date=August 1, 1995 By 2002, it was translated into 44 languages. In 1996, the Italian director,

Cristina Comencini Cristina Comencini (; born 8 May 1956) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and novelist. Biography She is one of four daughters of Italian film director Luigi Comencini Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007) was an Italian fil ...

, made a film of the same name based on the novel.{{cite news , title=Follow Your Heart , url=https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/follow-your-heart-1200445497/ , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, date=March 3, 1996 In 1997, she published the novel {{lang, la, Anima Mundi, and was widely criticized for her portrayal of Father Walter in what she described as "a shameful campaign" of "insults, threats and slander".{{cite news , last1=Martínez , first1=Sanjuana , title=Susanna Tamaro: "El amor del Evangelio provoca odio" , url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A84866244/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=88160f73 , access-date=17 March 2022 , work= Proceso , date=March 24, 2002, language=es{{cite news , last1=Gumbel , first1=Andrew , title=Novelist pays a bitter price for popularity; Susanna Tamaro's success provokes the literati to pick up poison pens, url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/novelist-pays-a-bitter-price-for-popularity-1256273.html , work=

, date=June 16, 1997 In 1998, she published ''Dear Matildha – I Can't Wait for Man to Walk'', a collection of articles she wrote for {{lang, it, Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian magazine. Her book {{lang, it, Rispondimi (''Answer Me'') was described by ''

'' as "Holy abstractions brightened by dollops of sex and violence."{{cite news , title=Rispondimi , url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susanna-tamaro/rispondimi/ , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

, date=January 15, 2002 The book consists of three stories, featuring the daughter of a prostitute, the wife of a businessman, and a jealous husband. A review by ''

World Literature Today ''World Literature Today'' (''WLT'') is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The magazine's stated goal is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book ...

'' states, "The book's title comes from the closing passage of the first story, when Rosa, alone in the world, asks a stray white dog (a white dog appears in each story) if Someone guides us or if we are alone in the world. When the dog just looks at her with its tongue hanging out, she tells it to speak, to answer her: '{{lang, it, Rispondimi, i=no'."{{cite journal , last1=King , first1=Martha , title=Reviewed Work: Rispondimi by Susanna Tamaro , journal=

, date=Spring 2002 , volume=76 , issue=2 , pages=218–219 , doi=10.2307/40157461 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40157461 , access-date=17 March 2022 , publisher=Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, jstor=40157461 , url-access=subscription A review in ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'' refers to the protagonists in each story and concludes, "Their bitterness at the world and inability to love or be loved is so off-putting that the reader is likely to stop caring long before they reach their moments of truth. Not recommended." A review by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' states, "If Tamaro's view is dark, the care she takes with character development infuses her narratives with a clear and resonant moral vision." In 2001, she wrote {{lang, it, Raccontami. In 2002, she wrote {{lang, it, Più fuoco, più vento; in 2003 {{lang, it, Fuori. In 2005, she directed the film {{lang, it, Nel mio amore, based on a story from ''Answer Me'', titled "Hell Does Not Exist". In 2006, she published {{lang, it, Ascolta la mia voce (''Listen to My Voice''), a sequel of ''Follow your Heart''.{{cite news , last1=Hoffman , first1=Matthew , title=Listen to my Voice, By Susanna Tamaro, trs John Cullen , url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/listen-to-my-voice-by-susanna-tamaro-trs-john-cullen-1027697.html , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

, date=23 November 2008 This novel was translated in twelve languages.{{cn, date=March 2022 In 2008, she published ''Luisito – A Love Story''. In September 2018, she announced the release of her next book, anticipating that in it she would discuss how she was affected by

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and no ...

since the early years of life.

Documentary

In 2021, a documentary about Tamaro titled {{lang, it, Inedita was shown at the

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. From 2022, the festival was officially recognized as a competitive festival by the Internation ...

and then on television in Italy on channel

Rai 5 Rai 5 ("RAI Cinque") is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 26 November 2010 replacing Rai Extra. Its programming deals with cultur ...

.{{cite news , title=Susanna Tamaro senza maschere in un docu , url=https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cultura/tv/2021/12/26/susanna-tamaro-senza-maschere-in-un-docu_be858036-ddfd-444b-80e0-7002c3418c65.html , access-date=17 March 2022 , work= ANSA , date=December 26, 2021 , language=it In the documentary, she discusses her life with

, her writing career, and her various interests, including bicycle repair, beekeeping, and the practice of martial arts.

Awards and honors

* Italo Calvino Prize for {{lang, it, La testa fra le nuvole (1989){{cite web , title=I nostri autori , url=https://www.premiocalvino.it/i-nostri-autori/ , website=Premio Italo Calvino , access-date=17 March 2022 * Elsa Morante Prize for {{lang, it, La testa fra le nuvole (1990) *

for {{lang, it, Per voce sola (1991) * Rapallo Carige Prize for women writers for {{lang, it, Per voce sola (1992){{cite web , title=Le Vincitrici Delle Scorse Edizioni , url=https://www.gruppocarige.it/grpwps/portal/it/gruppo-carige/cultura/rapallo-carige , website=Rapallo Carige , access-date=17 March 2022 * Cento Prize for {{lang, it, Il cerchio magico (1995){{cite web , title=Premio letturatura ragazzi , url=https://www.premioletteraturaragazzi.it/edizioni_precedenti.htm?v_lingua=ITA&v_menu_lista=PLETT-PLARC-PLA95 , website=Fondazione Casa di Risparmio Cento , access-date=17 March 2022 * Honorary Golden Dante of A.L. "{{lang, it, Bocconi d'Inchiostro, i=no" –

Bocconi University Bocconi University or Università Bocconi (formally known in Italian language, Italian as ''Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi'' – Luigi Bocconi Commercial University) is a private university in Milan, Italy. The university is consistently ...

for her outstanding career (2013) * {{lang, it, Donna Città di Roma, i=no for {{lang, it, Va' dove ti porta il cuore (1994) *

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( ) is the most important Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published between 1 March of t ...

for {{lang, it, Salta Bart! (2016){{cite web , last1=Sellers , first1=John A. , last2=Roback , first2=Diane , title=Bologna 2016: Wrapping Up a Quietly Busy Fair , url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/69943-bologna-2016-wrapping-up-a-quietly-busy-fair.html , website=Publishers Weekly , date=April 12, 2016, access-date=17 March 2022

Works

* {{lang, it, La testa tra le nuvole (1989) * {{lang, it, Per voce sola (1991) ** ''For Solo Voice'' {{ISBN, 9781446466506 * {{lang, it, Cuore di ciccia (1992) {{ISBN, 9788809874510 * {{lang, it, Il cerchio magico (1994) * {{lang, it, Va' dove ti porta il cuore (1994) 2018 2nd edition - {{ISBN, 9788845294747 ** ''Follow your Heart'' (1994) {{ISBN, 9780385316576 * {{lang, la, Anima Mundi (1997) ** {{lang, it, Anima Mundi (English) (2007) {{ISBN, 9780975444443 * {{lang, it, Cara Mathilda. Lettere a un'amica (1997) * {{lang, it, Tobia e l'angelo (1998) * {{lang, it, Verso casa (1999) * {{lang, it, Papirofobia (2000) * {{lang, it, Rispondimi (2001) Rizzoli {{ISBN, 88-17-86726-8 ** ''Answer Me'' (2007) {{ISBN, 9780307424846{{cite news , last1=Jays , first1=David , title=Destroyed by happiness , url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/22/featuresreviews.guardianreview23 , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

, date=22 February 2003 * {{lang, it, Più fuoco più vento (2002) * {{lang, it, Fuori (2003) * {{lang, it, Ogni parola è un seme (2005) * {{lang, it, Ascolta la mia voce (2007) ** ''Listen to My Voice'' (2008) {{ISBN, 9781846550645 * {{lang, it, Luisito – Una storia d'amore (2008) * {{lang, it, Il grande albero (2009) ** {{lang, es, El gran árbol tr. by Guadalupe Ramírez Muñoz, (2010) {{ISBN, 978-84-96886-19-3 * {{lang, it, Per sempre (2011) * {{lang, it, L'isola che c'è. Il nostro tempo, l'Italia, i nostri figli (2011) * {{lang, it, Ogni angelo è tremendo (2013) * {{lang, it, Via Crucis. Meditazioni e preghiere (2013) (

E-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

) * {{lang, it, Un'infanzia: adattamento teatrale di Adriano Evangelisti (2013) (

) * {{lang, it, Sulle orme di San Francesco (2014) (

) * ''Illmitz'' (2014) * {{lang, it, Salta Bart! (2014) * {{lang, it, Un cuore pensante (2015) * ''The Tiger and the Acrobat'' (2017) {{ISBN, 9781786072825{{cite news , title=Nota Benes, May 2018 , url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2018/may/nota-benes-may-2018 , access-date=17 March 2022 , work=

, date=May 2018 * {{lang, it, Il tuo sguardo illumina il mondo (2018){{cite news , last1=Degl'Innocenti , first1=Fulvia , title=Susanna Tamaro: la bambina "strana" con l'Asperger salvata dai libri , url=https://www.famigliacristiana.it/articolo/susanna-tamaro-la-bambina-strana-con-l-asperger-salvata-dai-libri.aspx , access-date=17 March 2022 , work= Famiglia Cristiana , date=February 18, 2019

Filmography

* {{lang, it, Nel mio amore (2004)

Personal life

Tamaro described herself as a "strange child", being treated by neurologists and taking medications from an early age; later in her childhood she read about

and was finally diagnosed with the disorder. She claims to have experienced

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...

since the age of 3. In a 2002 interview, Tamaro called herself an

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

, a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

, and "a Christian more than a Catholic" due to the religious beliefs of her family, including her father's interest in

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

and her mother's Jewish heritage. {{As of, 2024, post=, she has lived near

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

with the writer {{ill, Roberta Mazzoni, it, Roberta Mazzoni (sceneggiatrice) for 35 years; she has referred to the relationship as a "spiritual friendship", stating that she is not a lesbian. Tamaro has expressed her

opposition to abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the legal ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

* {{official, http://www.susannatamaro.it/
International PEN
* {{IMDb name
titles
at the Italian

OPAC The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with ''library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or Library consortium, group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card c ...

titles
on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

{{Navboxes , title=Awards received by Susanna Tamaro , list1= {{Rapallo Carige Prize {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Tamaro, Susanna 1957 births Living people 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian women writers 21st-century Italian novelists 21st-century Italian women writers Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni Italian people of Jewish descent Italian people with disabilities Italian women novelists Jewish Italian writers People with Asperger syndrome Writers from Trieste Autistic writers