Tommaso Labranca (18 February 1962 – 29 August 2016) was an Italian essayist, novelist,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, writer, and radio presenter.

Life and career

Born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Labranca started his career in the 1980s as a translator and an editor of

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

s. Interested in the Italian

trash culture Trash culture refers to a broad category of artistic or entertainment expressions perceived as having a low cultural profile but possessing mass appeal. It encompasses media such as books, films, television shows, and music often criticized f ...

, which he considered as "the last major manifestation of Italian creativity", between 1992 and 1994 he directed the magazine ''Trashware'', and he became first known for the books ''Andy Warhol era un coatto'' ("Andy Warhol was tacky", 1994) and ''Estasi del pecoreccio'' ("Extasy of the bad taste", 1995). In the 1990s he was part, together with

Niccolò Ammaniti Niccolò Ammaniti () is an Italian writer, winner of the Premio Strega in 2007 for '' As God Commands'' (also published under the title ''The Crossroads''). He became noted in 2001 with the publication of '' I'm Not Scared'' (''Io non ho paura'' ...

Isabella Santacroce Isabella Santacroce (born April 30, 1970 in Riccione) is an Italian novelist. Biography Isabella Santacroce was born and lives in Riccione. Her literary startup began in the 1990s with her debut novel ''Fluo'', the first book of the trilogy "T ...

, Tiziano Scarpa and others, of a literary movement known as "i cannibali" ("the cannibals"). In 1997 he debuted as a television writer with the

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting '' TG2'' news bulletins, ta ...

nostalgia show ''Anima mia'', and starting from 2000 he collaborated with several radio stations including

Radio Rai (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels and ...

and Radio 24 as a writer and a presenter. In 2013 he founded an independent publishing house, 20090. His last work was the essay ''Vraghinaròda. Viaggio allucinante fra creatori, mediatori e fruitori dell'arte'' ("Vraghinaròda. Fantastic voyage between creators, users and mediators of art", 2016). Labranca unexpectedly died of a heart attack at his home in Pantigliate, on the night of 29 August 2016. He was 54 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labranca, Tommaso 1962 births 2016 deaths Writers from Milan 20th-century Italian male writers 21st-century Italian male writers 20th-century Italian novelists 21st-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian translators Italian essayists Italian male essayists 20th-century Italian essayists 21st-century Italian essayists Italian television writers Italian radio writers Italian radio presenters Italian journalists Italian male journalists Italian male television writers Italian male non-fiction writers Mass media people from Milan