Viola Di Grado is the author of nine novels translated into sixteen countries.

With her debut novel, Settanta acrilico trenta lana, published at the age of 23, she was awarded the prestigious Campiello Opera Prima in recognition of the book’s “linguistic invention pushed to visionariness,” becoming the youngest recipient in the award’s history and the youngest finalist for the Premio Strega.

Her novels have also been shortlisted for the PEN Literary Awards, the Polari Book Prize and the IPTA Italian Prose in Translation Award, and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award (2017). She was named one of the most representative authors of recent decades in the Garzanti Dictionary (2013) and was among the five Italian writers recommended by Elena Ferrante in her book La frantumaglia (2015).

Her novel Fuoco al cielo (2019) was awarded the Premio Viareggio Selezione della Giuria and her novel Fame Blu was an Irish Times Book of the Year.

She is also a contributor to various newspapers, including The Guardian and La Repubblica, and a literary translator; among others, she has translated works by Patricia Highsmith and Joyce Carol Oates.

She graduated in East Asian philosophies at the University of London. She currently lives in London with her two black cats.

“Shimmering prose.”

—The New York Times T Magazine

“A considerable talent.”

—The Times Literary Supplement

“Viola Di Grado is a unique and original writer.”

—Michael Cunningham

“Viola di Grado is one of the most exciting voices writing in Europe today.”

—Jami Attenberg