Silvio Raffo (born December 7, 1947) is an Italian writer and translator. He is the most prolific translator of English and American women writers from English to Italian. A

screen adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of his 1996 novel ''Voice from the Stone'' has been directed by Eric Howell.

Life and career

Silvio Raffo was born in Rome, Italy. He graduated from the Università Cattolica with a thesis on

Latin language Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

. In 1986 he founded the literary club "La Piccola Fenice" in Varese. A poet, writer and translator, he has lectured in Italy, Switzerland and Norway, and is a visiting professor in London. He was shortlisted for the

Strega Prize 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 1997 for his novel ''La voce della pietra'

and has won several poetry prizes, including the Premio Gozzano, Premio Cardarelli, Premio Montale, Premio Ada Negri, and Premio Jean Vigo. He has long contributed to the leading Italian publishing house

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

as a translator and essayist. For Mondadori he translated into Italian

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

's works, for which he is best known. He currently lives in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

where he teaches Italian literature at . He has presented stage performances with his former student Silvia Bottini.

Poet

He published his first poetry collection in 1976, followed by many others, notably ''Lampi della visione'' and ''L'equilibrio terrestre'', both for Crocetti Editore. His work was praised, among others, by the Nobel Prize-candidate poet

Maria Luisa Spaziani Maria Luisa Spaziani (21 June 1923 – 30 June 2014) was an Italian poet. Biography Spaziani was born in Turin. At nineteen, she founded the review ''Il dado'', working with collaborators such as Vasco Pratolini, Sandro Penna and Vincen ...

Novelist

A prolific novelist, he has published eight novels, among which are ''La voce della pietra'' (''Voice from the Stone'', 1996), shortlisted for the Premio Strega in 1997, and ''Virginio'', both published by

Il Saggiatore ''The Assayer'' ( it, Il Saggiatore) was a book published in Rome by Galileo Galilei in October 1623 and is generally considered to be one of the pioneering works of the scientific method, first broaching the idea that the book of nature is to be ...

. When it first came out, ''Voice from the Stone'' was greatly praised by the English novelist

Muriel Spark Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...

Translator and essayist

To date, he is the most prolific translator of English women writers, having so far translated works by

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Brit ...

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

, and

Sara Teasdale Sara Teasdale (August 8, 1884January 29, 1933) was an American lyric poet. She was born Sarah Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger after her marriage in 1914. In 1918 she won a Pulitzer Prize for her ...

, who he first translated and had published in Italy. The result of his many years' studies on Emily Dickinson, he published in 2009 the essay "La Sposa del Terrore" (The Terror's Bride). A new biography of the poet of

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

is going to be published in 2011.

The Premio Guido Morselli

In 2008, in

, together with professor and researcher Ms Linda Terziroli, he established the "Premio Guido Morselli", both a literary award and a series of conferences concerning the work of

Guido Morselli Guido Morselli (August 15, 1912 – July 30, 1973) was an Italian novelist and essayist. Life Morselli was born in Bologna, the second son of a well-to-do family belonging to Bolognese bourgeoisie. Giovanni, his father, was a manager of Carlo Er ...

, a writer whose novels were published only after his suicide in 1974.

''Voice from the Stone'' and Hollywood

In 2010, a screen adaption of his 1997 novel, ''

Voice from the Stone ''Voice from the Stone'' is a 2017 American supernatural psychological thriller film directed by Eric D. Howell and written by Andrew Shaw, based on the novel of the same name by Silvio Raffo. The film tells about a young patient of a female psyc ...

'', was announced. The novel was adapted for the screen by Mark Wheaton and produced by

Dean Zanuck Dean Francis Zanuck (born August 11, 1972) is an American production executive and film producer. Biography Early life He was born on August 11, 1972 in Los Angeles.Harry HaunThe Grandson also rises: Dean Zanuck takes an indie path with Robert ...

and Stefano Gallini. According to the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

, the film originally had Japanese cult movie director

Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as ''Ring'' (1998), ''Ring 2'' (1999) and ''Dark Water'' (2002). Several of these we ...

set to direct until Eric Howell, director of Academy Award 2010 shortlisted fil
''Ana's Playground''
took over the helm.

Emilia Clarke Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke (born 23 October 1986) is an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal as Daenerys Targaryen in '' Game of Thrones''. She has received various accolades, including an Empire Award, a Saturn Award, ...

stars in the supernatural thriller.

Selected bibliography

Poetry

* "Lampi della visione", Crocetti Editore, 1988 * "L'equilibrio terrestre", Crocetti Editore, 1992 * "Maternale", Nem, 2007

Novels

* "Lo specchio attento", Edizioni Studio Tesi, 1987 * "La voce della pietra",

, 1996 * "Virginio",

, 1997 * "Eros degli inganni", Bietti, 2010 * "Voice from the Stone", ebook versio

2017

Translations

* "Oscar Wilde: tutti i racconti", Newton & Compton, 1997 * "Emily Dickinson: tutte le poesie", Meridiani

, 1999 * "Christina Rossetti: nostalgia del cielo", Le Lettere, 2001 * "Brontë: poesie",

, 2004

Essays

* "Donna, mistero senza fine bello", T.E. Newton, 1994 * "Poesia",

Zanichelli Zanichelli editore S.p.A. is an Italian publishing company founded in Modena, Italy, in 1859. It publishes mainly textbooks for school, university and professional books (legal texts and medicine), dictionaries, and reference books. History The ...

, 2001 * "La Sposa del terrore", Hermaion, Book Editore, 2009 * "Io sono nessuno", Le Lettere, 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raffo, Silvio Italian poets Italian male poets 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers 21st-century Italian novelists Italian nobility Writers from Rome 1947 births Living people Italian male novelists 21st-century Italian male writers