Claudia Durastanti
{{short description|Italian journalist and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Claudia Durastanti
| image = Claudia Durastanti (2017).png
| caption = Claudia Durastanti (2017)
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1984|6|8|df=y}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| occupation = Novelist, translator, journalist
| language = {{hlist|Italian|English}}
| citizenship = {{hlist|Italy|United States}}
| years_active = 2010–present
}}
Claudia Durastanti (born 8 June 1984) is an Italian writer and translator.
Early life
Durastanti was born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst to two deaf Italian parents, who divorced in 1990. After their divorce, Durastanti (aged 6) moved to the Basilicata region of southern Italy with her mother. This and other aspects of her life (like an incident in which her father kidnapped her as a child) are described in her semi-autobiographical novel La Straniera (published in English as Strangers I Know).{{Cite web |last=Durastanti |first=Claudia |date=2019 |title=Claudia Durastanti |url=http://santamaddalena.org/claudia-durastanti/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530105413/http://santamaddalena.org/claudia-durastanti/ |archive-date=30 May 2023 |access-date=16 December 2023 |website=Santa Maddalena Foundation}}{{Cite web |last=Peschel |first=Joseph |date=February 2022 |title=Claudia Durastanti's Strangers I Know |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2022/02/books/Claudia-Durastantis-Strangers-I-Know |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216185707/https://brooklynrail.org/2022/02/books/Claudia-Durastantis-Strangers-I-Know |archive-date=16 December 2023 |access-date=16 December 2023 |website=Brooklyn Rail}}{{Cite book |last=Durastanti |first=Claudia |title=La straniera |publisher=Fitzcarraldo Editions |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-913097-83-7 |location=Great Britain |language=English |translator-last=Harris |translator-first=Elizabeth |trans-title=Strangers I Know}}
Durastanti studied cultural anthropology at the Sapienza University of Rome and continued her studies at De Montfort University. She then returned to Rome where she earned a master's degree in publishing and journalism.{{cite web|url=https://www.gorki.de/en/company/claudia-durastanti|title=Claudia Durastanti|publisher=Maxim Gorki Theater|access-date=18 December 2023}}
Career
Durastanti was shortlisted for the 2019 Strega Prize and Viareggio Prize with La Straniera (La nave di Teseo, 2019). The book is translated into twenty-one languages and is being adapted into a TV show.{{Cite web|last=Colleran|first=Mia|date=28 January 2022|title=A Formal Feeling: A Conversation with Claudia Durastanti|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2022/01/28/a-formal-feeling-a-conversation-with-claudia-durastanti/|access-date=17 August 2024|website=The Paris Review|language=en-US}}
Her work has appeared in Granta, the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Serving Library.
She is a board member of the Turin International Book Fair and co-founded the Italian Festival of Literature in London.{{Cite web|title=Claudia Durastanti|url=https://granta.com/contributor/claudia-durastanti/|access-date=21 January 2022|website=Granta|language=en-US}}
She has translated several works into Italian, including Joshua Cohen's The Netanyahus and Donna Haraway's Staying with the Trouble, as well as Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
She writes a music column for Internazionale{{Cite web |title=Claudia Durastanti - Notizie, foto, video |url=https://www.internazionale.it/tag/autori/claudia-durastanti |access-date=7 June 2025 |website=Internazionale |language=it}} and serves as a curator for the feminist imprint La Tartaruga, founded by Laura Lepetit in 1975.{{Cite web |last=Bolino |first=Francesca |date=14 May 2025 |title=Claudia Durastanti: "Ci vuole incoscienza per fare i libri e fare il femminismo" |url=https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2025/05/15/news/salone_libro_claudia_durastanti_intervista-424192854/ |access-date=7 June 2025 |website=la Repubblica |language=it}}
Personal life
At various points in her life, she has lived in Brooklyn, Basilicata, London, and Rome. After the publication of Strangers I Know, she briefly lived in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, before moving back to Rome, where she lived as of January 2023.{{Cite web |last=Chianese |first=Francesco |date=16 May 2022 |title=From "La Straniera" to "Strangers I know": Claudia Durastanti's Journey through Languages, Cultures, Genres, and Genders |url=https://readingintranslation.com/2022/05/16/claudia-durastantis-strangers-i-know/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925063649/https://readingintranslation.com/2022/05/16/claudia-durastantis-strangers-i-know/ |archive-date=25 September 2023 |access-date=16 December 2023 |website=Reading in Translation}}{{Cite web |last=Handal |first=Nathalie |date=18 January 2023 |title=The City and the Writer: In Rome with Claudia Durastanti |url=https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2023-01/the-city-and-the-writer-in-rome-with-claudia-durastanti-nathalie-handal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606221102/https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2023-01/the-city-and-the-writer-in-rome-with-claudia-durastanti-nathalie-handal/ |archive-date=6 June 2023 |access-date=16 December 2023 |website=Words Without Borders}}
Works
= In Italian =
- Un giorno verrò a lanciare sassi alla tua finestra, Venezia, Marsilio, 2010 {{ISBN|978-88-317-0572-1}}.
- A Chloe, per le ragioni sbagliate, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-317-1670-3}}.
- Cleopatra va in prigione, Roma, minimum fax, 2016 {{ISBN|978-88-7521-745-7}}.
- La straniera, Milano, La nave di Teseo, 2019 {{ISBN|978-88-93447-75-1}}.
- Missitalia, Milano, La nave di Teseo, 2024 {{ISBN|978-88-34616-36-9}}.
== In English ==
- Cleopatra Goes to Prison, translator Christine Donougher, Dublin: The Dedalus Press, 2020. {{ISBN|9781910213964}}
- Strangers I Know, translator Elizabeth Harris, Fitzcarraldo Editions, January 2022.{{Cite web |title=STRANGERS I KNOW |url=https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/strangers-i-know |access-date=26 January 2022 |website=Fitzcarraldo Editions}}
=Translations=
- Il fantasma del sabato sera. Interviste sulla vita e la musica (Tom Waits on Tom Waits: Interviews and Encounters) by Tom Waits, Rome, minimum fax, 2012 {{ISBN|978-88-7521-444-9}}
- Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2014 {{ISBN|978-88-3171-904-9}}
- Il cuore degli uomini (The Hearts of Men) by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2017 {{ISBN|9788831726269}}
- Future sex by Emily Witt, Rome, minimum fax, 2017 {{ISBN|9788875216535}}
- Sotto il falò (Beneath the Bonfire) by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2018 {{ISBN|9788831729376}}
- Atlante sentimentale dei colori (The Secret Lives of Colour) by Kassia St Clair, Turin, UTET, 2018 {{ISBN|9788851164423}}
- Un'altra occupazione (Moving Kings) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2018 {{ISBN|9788875787479}}
- Il museo delle relazioni interrotte by Olinka Vištica and Drazen Grubisic, Milan, Mondadori, 2018 {{ISBN|9788804705246}}
- Le regole non valgono (The Rules Do Not Apply) by Ariel Levy, Milan, Bompiani, 2018
- In cucina con Kafka (Baking with Kafka) by Tom Gauld, Milan, Mondadori, 2018 {{ISBN|9788804686606}}
- "Il trucco della bottiglia" by Nalo Hopkinson, "Il sonno delle piante" by Anne Richter, "Racconti dal seno" by Hiromi Goto in Le Visionarie. Fantascienza, fantasy e femminismo: un'antologia (Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology) by AA. VV., edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Rome, NERO, 2018
- Mooncop. Poliziotto lunare by Tom Gauld, Milan, Mondadori, 2019 {{ISBN|9788804713784}}
- Il libro dei numeri (Book of Numbers) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2019 {{ISBN|9788875788124}}
- La trama del mondo. I tessuti che hanno fatto la storia by Kassia St Clair, Torino, UTET, 2019 {{ISBN|9788851174309}}
- Chthulucene (Staying with the Trouble) by Donna Haraway, Rome, NERO, 2019, (with Clara Ciccioni) {{ISBN|9788880560449}}
- Schadenfreude. La gioia per le disgrazie altrui by Tiffany Watt Smith, Turin, UTET, 2019 {{ISBN|9788851169312}}
- Brevemente risplendiamo sulla terra (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous) by Ocean Vuong, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2020 {{ISBN|9788834601327}}
- Tempi eccitanti (Exciting Times) by Naoise Dolan, Rome, Edizioni Atlantide, 2020
- Madre delle ossa (The Bone Mother) by David Demchuk, Milan, Zona 42, 2020
- La nostra furiosa amicizia (The Knockout Queen) by Rufi Thorpe, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 2021
- La fattoria degli animali (Animal Farm) by George Orwell, Milan, Garzanti, 2021
- Quattro nuovi messaggi (Four New Messages) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2021 {{ISBN|9788875789565}}
- Tempi moderni (Modern Times) by Cathy Sweeney, Milan, il Saggiatore, 2021
- Notti insonni (Sleepless Nights) by Elizabeth Hardwick, Milan, Blackie Edizioni, 2021 {{ISBN|9788831321136}}
- Chinatown interiore (Interior Chinatown) by Charles Yu, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2021 ISBN 9788834606353
- I Terranauti (The Terranauts) by T. C. Boyle, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2022
- Un fantasma in gola (A Ghost in the Throat) by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Milan, Il Saggiatore, 2022 {{ISBN|978-8842829652}}
- I Netanyahu (The Netanyahus) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2022 {{ISBN|979-1254500132}}
- Le cinque ferite (The Five Wounds) by Kirstin Valdez Quade, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2022 {{ISBN|978-8834610633}}
- Notte al neon (Night, Neon: Tales of Mystery and Suspense) by Joyce Carol Oates, Carbonio editore 2022 {{ISBN|9791280794048}}
- Sangue e viscere al liceo (Blood and Guts in High School) by Kathy Acker, Bari, LiberAria Editrice, 2023
- Il fratello del famoso Jack (Brother of the More Famous Jack) by Barbara Trapido, Milan, HarperCollins Italia, 2023
- Passeggiare la notte (Nightcrawling) by Leila Mottley, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 2023
- Gli uomini (The Men) by Sandra Newman, Florence, Ponte Alle Grazie, 2023 {{ISBN|9788833319759}}
- La coppia felice (The Happy Couple) by Naoise Dolan, Rome, Edizioni di Atlantide, 2023 {{ISBN|9791280028389}}
References
{{reflist|35em}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durastanti, Claudia}}
Category:21st-century Italian novelists
Category:Alumni of De Montfort University
Category:Italian women novelists
Category:People from Basilicata