Andrea Camilleri

Andrea Calogero Camilleri was an Italian writer best known for his Salvo Montalbano crime novels.

Biography

Originally from Porto Empedocle, Girgenti, Sicily, Camilleri began university studies in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Palermo, but did not complete his degree; during that time he published poems and short stories.
From 1948 to 1950, he studied stage and film direction at the Silvio D'Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts and began to take on work as a director and screenwriter, directing especially plays by Pirandello and Beckett. His parents knew and reportedly were "distant friends" of Pirandello, as he relates in his essay on Pirandello, Biography of the Changed Son. His most famous works, the Montalbano series, exhibit many Pirandellian elements: for example, the wild olive tree that helps Montalbano think is on stage in his late work The Giants of the Mountain.
With RAI, Camilleri worked on several TV productions, such as Le inchieste del commissario Maigret with Gino Cervi. In 1977, he returned to the Academy of Dramatic Arts, holding the chair of Film Direction and occupying it for 20 years.
Camilleri wrote his first novel, Il Corso Delle Cose, in 1978. This was followed by Un Filo di Fumo in 1980. Neither of these works enjoyed any significant popularity.
In 1992, after a long pause of 12 years, Camilleri once more took up novel writing. A new book, La Stagione della Caccia became a best-seller.
In 1994, Camilleri published La forma dell'Acqua, the first in a long series of novels featuring Inspector Salvo Montalbano, a fractious detective in the police force of Vigàta, an imaginary Sicilian town. The series is written in Italian but with a substantial sprinkling of Sicilian phrases and grammar. The name Montalbano is a homage to the Spanish writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán; the similarities between Montalban's Pepe Carvalho and Camilleri's fictional detective are noteworthy. Both writers make use of their protagonists' gastronomic preferences.
This interesting quirk has become something of a fad among his readership, even in mainland Italy. The TV adaptation of Montalbano's adventures, starring Luca Zingaretti, further increased Camilleri's popularity to such a point that in 2003 Camilleri's home town, Porto Empedocle – on which Vigàta is modelled – took the extraordinary step of changing its official name to that of Porto Empedocle Vigàta, no doubt with an eye to capitalising on the tourism possibilities thrown up by the author's work. On his website, Camilleri refers to the engaging and multi-faceted character of Montalbano as a "serial killer of characters," meaning that he has developed a life of his own and demands great attention from his author to the detriment of other potential books and characters. Camilleri added that he wrote a Montalbano novel every so often just so that the character would be appeased and allow him to work on other stories.
In 2012, Camilleri's The Potter's Field was announced as the winner of the 2012 Crime Writers' Association International Dagger. The announcement was made on 5 July 2012 at the awards ceremony held at One Birdcage Walk in London.
In his last years, Camilleri lived in Rome where he worked as a TV and theatre director. About 10 million copies of his novels have been sold to date and are becoming increasingly popular in the UK, Australia and North America.
In addition to the degree of popularity brought him by the novels, Andrea Camilleri became even more of a media icon thanks to the parodies aired on an RAI radio show, where popular comedian, TV host and impressionist Fiorello presents him as a raspy-voiced, caustic character, madly in love with cigarettes and smoking, since in Italy, Camilleri was well known for being a heavy smoker of cigarettes. He considered himself a "non-militant atheist".
On 17 June 2019, Camilleri suffered a heart attack. He was admitted to hospital in a critical condition. He died on 17 July 2019.

Recognitions

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1998 Nino Martoglio International Book Award.
2003 Grand Officer in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
2008 RBA Prize for Crime Writing for La rizzagliata / La muerte de Amalia Sacerdote, the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize at €125,000.
Asteroid 204816 Andreacamilleri, discovered by Italian amateur astronomer Vincenzo Casulli in 2007, was named in his honour. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 5 October 2017.

Honorary degrees

He received honorary degrees from several Italian universities, including the IULM University of Milan, the University of Pisa, the University of L'Aquila, and the D'Annunzio University of Chieti—Pescara. In 2012, he received an honorary PhD from the Sapienza University of Rome.
Camilleri also received honorary degrees from University College Dublin on 5 December 2011 and the American University of Rome on 30 October 2013.

Inspector Salvo Montalbano">Salvo Montalbano">Inspector Salvo Montalbano (1994–2020)

Italian title	Year of Italian publication	Italian publisher	Year of English publication	English title	English publisher
La forma dell'acqua		Sellerio		The Shape of Water	Picador
Il cane di Terracotta		Sellerio		The Terracotta Dog	Picador
Il ladro di merendine		Sellerio		The Snack Thief	Picador
La voce del violino		Sellerio		The Voice of the Violin	Picador
Gita a Tindari		Sellerio		Excursion to Tindari	Picador
L'odore della notte		Sellerio		The Scent of the Night	Picador
Il giro di boa		Sellerio		Rounding the Mark	Picador
La pazienza del ragno		Sellerio		The Patience of the Spider	Picador
La luna di carta		Sellerio		The Paper Moon	Picador
La vampa d'agosto		Sellerio		August Heat	Picador
Le ali della sfinge		Sellerio		The Wings of the Sphinx	Penguin Books
La pista di sabbia		Sellerio		The Track of Sand	Penguin Books
Il campo del vasaio		Sellerio		The Potter's Field	Penguin Books
L'età del dubbio		Sellerio		The Age of Doubt	Penguin Books
La danza del gabbiano		Sellerio		The Dance of the Seagull	Penguin Books
La caccia al tesoro		Sellerio		Treasure Hunt	Penguin Books
Il sorriso di Angelica		Sellerio		Angelica's Smile	Penguin Books
Il gioco degli specchi		Sellerio		Game of Mirrors	Penguin Books
Una lama di luce		Sellerio		Blade of Light	Penguin Books
Una voce di notte		Sellerio		A Voice in the Night	Penguin Books
Un covo di vipere		Sellerio		A Nest of Vipers	Penguin Books
La piramide di fango		Sellerio		The Pyramid of Mud	Penguin Books
La giostra degli scambi		Sellerio		The Overnight Kidnapper	Penguin Books
L'altro capo del filo		Sellerio		The Other End of the Line	Penguin Books
La rete di protezione		Sellerio		The Safety Net	Penguin Books
Il metodo Catalanotti		Sellerio		The Sicilian Method	Penguin Books
Il cuoco dell'Alcyon		Sellerio		The Cook of the Halcyon	Penguin Books
Riccardino		Sellerio			Mantle

Other

Le Arancine di Montalbano Biografia di un figlio cambiato Il birraio di Preston La bolla di componenda La concessione del telefono La concessione del telefono: versione teatrale dell'omonimo romanzo Il corso delle cose Il diavolo: tentatore, innamorato Favole del tramonto Un filo di fumo Il gioco della mosca Gocce di Sicilia Le inchieste del commissario Collura La linea della palma: Saverio Lodato fa raccontare Andrea Camilleri Il medaglione Un mese con Montalbano Montalbano a viva voce La mossa del cavallo L'ombrello di Noe Le parole raccontate: piccolo dizionario dei termini teatrali La paura di Montalbano

The Fourth Secret, a short story taken from La paura di MontalbanoLa Pensione Eva: romanzo La presa di Macallè La prima indagine di Montalbano Privo di titolo Racconti quotidiani Il re di Girgenti Romanzi storici e civili La scomparsa di Patò: romanzo
Hunting Season La stagione della caccia Storie di Montalbano La strage dimenticata I teatri stabili in Italia Teatro La testa ci fa dire: dialogo con Andrea Camilleri Vi racconto Montalbano: interviste Il colore del sole Le pecore ed il pastore La novella di Antonello da Palermo Voi non sapete Maruzza Musumeci Il tailleur grigio Il casellante La muerte de Amalia Sacerdote, La muerte de Amalia Sacerdote Un sabato, con gli amici Il sonaglio La rizzagliata La tana delle vipere Il nipote del Negus L'intermittenza
The Revolution of the Moon La rivoluzione della luna Noli me tangere Ora dimmi di te, ''Háblame de ti. Carta a Matilda''