I have always read so much. Then, when I started translating in 2001, reading became difficult; I became tired of words, of trying to perfectly understand each and every word in one language to find the best solutions in another language, which soon started to happen even when I wasn’t actually translating (translators will understand this). But there were books that could make me forget the words, the solutions, the “game” that is translation, and lead me to another place far far away from the one I was in.

This, Cacciatori di frodo byAlessandro Cinquegrani, is one. I was lucky enough to meet the author, to translate excerpts of the book. One excerpt can be found on Asymptote Journal, here: https://www.asymptotejournal.com/fiction/alessandro-cinquegrani-poachers/italian/

Another is on my blog, below.

It is still in search of an English publisher…

Something about the author: Alessandro Cinquegrani (Treviso, 1974) is a researcher in Comparative Literature at Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice. He has published widely.

Cacciatori di frodo, from which the excerpt is taken, is his first novel. It was a finalist in the Premio Calvino, and received honorable mention in the Premio Strega. It has been adapted into a play and performed under the direction of Giuseppe Emiliani.