Bianca Pitzorno (; born 12 August 1942) is an Italian writer best known for her books for children and young adults. She is considered one of Italy's most important authors in that field. She was born in

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

. She studied archaeology and classical literature and then began a career producing programs for television. She began writing books for girls when she was 28. She also writes plays, screenplays and lyrics for songs. Pitzorno lives and works in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. During the 1970s, she was head of children's programming for RAI television. Later, she worked on the children's television series ' ("The blue tree"). Her books have been translated into many languages including French, German, Spanish, Greek, Polish, Hungarian, Korean and Japanese. Her children's stories blend contemporary reality with elements of magic. She has translated into Italian works by authors such as

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

, Sylvia Plath,

David Grossman David Grossman ( he, דויד גרוסמן; born January 25, 1954) is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2018, he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature. Biography David Grossman was born i ...

, Tove Jansson and Soledad Cruz Guerra. Pitzorno is a

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

Goodwill ambassador. She helped establish a library project in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

which makes literature in Italian and literature translated from Italian available to Cuban children. She also helps provide Cuban literature translated into Italian to youth in Italy.

Awards

* dell’Infanzia * Premio Castello di Sanguinetto *

Cento Prize The Children's Literature Prize "Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento" is an international competition aimed at authors of children's books (elementary and middle school) in Italian, original or translated. Origins The Prize Cento was establish ...

* finalist for the

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

Selected works

* ''Clorofilla dal cielo blu'' ("Chlorophyll from a blue sky") (1974), also adapted for film * ''La bambola dell'alchimista'' ("The alchemist's doll") (1988) * ' ("Listen to my heart") (1991) * ' ("The secret voice") (1998) * ''Una scuola per Lavinia'' ("A school for Lavinia") (2005)

Works translated into English

* ''The House in the Tree'', Bloomsbury USA, 2017 * '' The littlest witch'', Catnip Publishing, London 2018 * '' Lavinia and the magic ring'', Catnip Publishing, London 2018 * '' The Seamstress of Sardinia'', Text Publishing Company, Melbourne 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitzorno, Bianca 1942 births Living people Italian women writers Italian children's writers Italian women children's writers Italian translators