Domenico Starnone (born 15 February 1943) is an Italian writer, screenwriter and journalist. Born in

Saviano Saviano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 25 km northeast of Naples. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 15,114 and an area of 13.8 km2.All demogra ...

, near

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, he has worked for several newspapers and satirical magazines, including ''

L'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the ...

'', '' Il Manifesto'', ''Tango'', and ''Cuore'', usually about episodes of his life as a high school teacher. He also works as screenwriter. Movies ''

La scuola ''La scuola'' (also known as ''School'') is a 1995 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Daniele Luchetti. It is loosely based on two books by Domenico Starnone, ''Ex Cattedra'' and ''Sottobanco''. The film was awarded with the David di Donatello ...

'', '' The Ties'' (both by

Daniele Luchetti Daniele Luchetti (; born 25 July 1960) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Luchetti was born in Rome. He debuted as assistant director for Nanni Moretti in ''Bianca'' (1983) and ''The Mass Is Ended'' (1985). Lu ...

), ''

Auguri Professore ''Auguri professore'' (''Good Luck Professor'') is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by Riccardo Milani. Plot The film is set in a school near Rome, and in a small mountain village of Abruzzo. The boys of the grammar school where teach ...

'' (by

Riccardo Milani Riccardo Milani (born 15 April 1958) is an Italian film and television director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Rome, Milani began his career in 1985, as assistant director of Mario Monicelli in '' Let's Hope It's a Girl''. After b ...

) and ''

Denti '' Denti'' (''Teeth'') is a 2000 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Gabriele Salvatores. It is based on the novel with the same name written by Domenico Starnone. It entered the competition at the 57th Venice International Film Festival. Plot A ...

'' (by

Gabriele Salvatores Gabriele Salvatores (born 30 July 1950) is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directe ...

) are based on his books. One of his novels is '' Via Gemito'', which won the

Premio Strega The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious 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 ...

in 2001. It was suggested in 2006 that the mysterious writer

Elena Ferrante Elena Ferrante () is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of ''Neapolitan Novels'' are her most widely known works. ''Time'' magazine ...

, author of '' L'amore molesto'' and '' I giorni dell'abbandono'', is Starnone himself. In a collection of interviews, the ''Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey,'' Ferrante addresses these speculations; she writes that in relation to the speculation that Ferrante is likely to be Starnone, due to her anonymity, and his feeling 'tired of everyone asking if he's Ferrante', she expresses 'That he's right and I feel guilty. But I hold him in great esteem and I'm certain that he understands my motivations. My identity, my sex can be found in my writing. Everything that has sprouted up around that is yet more evidence of the character of Italians in the first years of the twenty-first century.' Starnone is married to

Anita Raja Anita Raja (born 1953) is an Italian translator and writer. Early life, family and education Anita Raja was born in Naples, Italy, the daughter of Golda Frieda Petzenbaum and Renato Raja. Anita's German-born Polish-Jewish mother Petzenbaum was ...

, the literary translator who was said to be the author

in a report by the Italian investigative journalist Claudio Gatti in 2016. In 2017 an international research has compared the language of the mysterious novelist with 150 novels, revealing singular similarities with Starnone."What is Elena Ferrante? A comparative analysis of a secretive bestselling Italian writer"
Tuzzi & Cortelazzo 2018, DOI:10.1093/llc/fqx066 ''Digital Scholarship in the Humanities'', Volume 33, Issue 3, September 2018, Pages 685–702 The same research team does not rule out that Ferrante's novels are the result of the collaboration between Starnone and his wife Anita Raja.

Selected bibliography

*''Ex cattedra'' (1987) *''Il salto con le aste'' (1989) *''Segni d'oro'' (1990) *''Fuori registro'' (1991) *''Sottobanco'' (1992) *''Eccesso di zelo'' (1993) *''Denti'' (1994) *'' Appunti sulla maleducazione di un insegnante volenteroso'' (1995) *''La retta via'' (1996) *''Via Gemito'' (2000) *''La collega Passamaglia'' (2001) *''Alice allo Strega'' (2002) *''Labilità'' (2005) *''Ex cattedra e altre storie di scuola'' (2007) *''Prima esecuzione'' (2007) *''Spavento'' (2009) *''Fare scene. Una storia di cinema'' (2010) *''Autobiografia erotica di Aristide Gambìa'' (2011) *''Lacci'' (''Ties'', 2014) *''Scherzetto'' ("Little Trick", 2016) *''Le false resurrezioni'' (2018) *''Confidenza'' (2019)

English editions

*''First Execution'', translated by Antony Shugaar (2009) *''Ties'', translated by

Jhumpa Lahiri Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" LahiriMinzesheimer, Bob ''USA Today'', August 19, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. (born July 11, 1967) is an American author known for her short stories, novels and essays in English, and, more recently, in Italia ...

(2017) *''Trick'', translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (2018) *''Trust'' (also as ''Secrets''), translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (2019)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starnone, Domenico 1943 births Living people Italian journalists Italian male journalists Italian screenwriters Italian male screenwriters People from Saviano Strega Prize winners