Claudia Durastanti


Claudia Durastanti is an Italian writer and translator.
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Early life

Durastanti was born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst to two deaf Italian parents, who divorced in 1990. After their divorce, Durastanti moved to the Basilicata region of southern Italy with her mother. This and other aspects of her life are described in her semi-autobiographical novel La Straniera.
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.

Career

Durastanti was shortlisted for the 2019 Strega Prize and Viareggio Prize with La Straniera. The book is translated into twenty-one languages and is being adapted into a TV show.
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.
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 and serves as a curator for the feminist imprint La Tartaruga, founded by Laura Lepetit in 1975.

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.

Works

In Italian

Un giorno verrò a lanciare sassi alla tua finestra, Venezia, Marsilio, 2010.A Chloe, per le ragioni sbagliate, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013.Cleopatra va in prigione, Roma, minimum fax, 2016.La straniera, Milano, La nave di Teseo, 2019.Missitalia, Milano, La nave di Teseo, 2024.

In English

Cleopatra Goes to Prison, translator Christine Donougher, Dublin: The Dedalus Press, 2020. Strangers I Know, translator Elizabeth Harris, Fitzcarraldo Editions, January 2022.

Translations

Il fantasma del sabato sera. Interviste sulla vita e la musica by Tom Waits, Rome, minimum fax, 2012 Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2014 Il cuore degli uomini by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2017 Future sex by Emily Witt, Rome, minimum fax, 2017 Sotto il falò by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2018 Atlante sentimentale dei colori by Kassia St Clair, Turin, UTET, 2018 Un'altra occupazione by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2018 Il museo delle relazioni interrotte by Olinka Vištica and Drazen Grubisic, Milan, Mondadori, 2018 Le regole non valgono by Ariel Levy, Milan, Bompiani, 2018In cucina con Kafka by Tom Gauld, Milan, Mondadori, 2018
  • "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 by AA. VV., edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Rome, NERO, 2018Mooncop. Poliziotto lunare by Tom Gauld, Milan, Mondadori, 2019 Il libro dei numeri by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2019 La trama del mondo. I tessuti che hanno fatto la storia by Kassia St Clair, Torino, UTET, 2019 Chthulucene by Donna Haraway, Rome, NERO, 2019, Schadenfreude. La gioia per le disgrazie altrui by Tiffany Watt Smith, Turin, UTET, 2019 Brevemente risplendiamo sulla terra by Ocean Vuong, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2020 Tempi eccitanti by Naoise Dolan, Rome, Edizioni Atlantide, 2020 Madre delle ossa by David Demchuk, Milan, Zona 42, 2020 La nostra furiosa amicizia by Rufi Thorpe, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 2021La fattoria degli animali by George Orwell, Milan, Garzanti, 2021Quattro nuovi messaggi by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2021 Tempi moderni by Cathy Sweeney, Milan, il Saggiatore, 2021Notti insonni by Elizabeth Hardwick, Milan, Blackie Edizioni, 2021 Chinatown interiore by Charles Yu, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2021 ISBN 9788834606353I Terranauti by T. C. Boyle, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2022Un fantasma in gola by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Milan, Il Saggiatore, 2022 I Netanyahu by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2022 Le cinque ferite by Kirstin Valdez Quade, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2022 Notte al neon by Joyce Carol Oates, Carbonio editore 2022 Sangue e viscere al liceo by Kathy Acker, Bari, LiberAria Editrice, 2023Il fratello del famoso Jack by Barbara Trapido, Milan, HarperCollins Italia, 2023Passeggiare la notte by Leila Mottley, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 2023Gli uomini by Sandra Newman, Florence, Ponte Alle Grazie, 2023 La coppia felice by Naoise Dolan, Rome, Edizioni di Atlantide, 2023