Born in Ferrara, he has published more than 100 novels for children that have been translated into 10 languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Russian). He has been awarded ten national prizes for children’s literature, among which the prestigious Andersen Prize as author of the best book for 6/9-year-olds (2013). In 2017 he was awarded the Troisi Prize for his activity as an author for children and for his meetings/shows with schoolchildren all over Italy. He is a contract professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Macerata, where he teaches Creative Writing and holds courses for the Master’s degree in “Illustration for publishing”. He also teaches techniques for writing for children at the Holden School in Turin. He collaborates with the International Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition in Sàrmede (TV), with Cafoscarilettura, for the Movie Days within the Giffoni Film Festival, for the Musei Civici Foundation in Venice, for the Radio Magica Onlus Foundation, for Camù Art Centres and Museums in Cagliari, for “Teste fiorite” in Venice. He is a theatre author and director and has collaborated with actress Lella Costa and the author and radio host Marco Presta. He is a judge of literary prizes, among which the Prize for Children’s Literature in Cento, and he is the president of the panel of judges for the National Literary Prize “Uniti per Crescere” and the National Prize Anna Osti for Original Fiction. His works have formed the subject matter for various dissertations at the Universities of Roma Tre, Milan, Udine, Padua, Catania and Ferrara. For 15 years he has been the curator of the fairy-tales published during the International Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition in Sàrmede (TV). Since 2010 he has been collaborating with Palazzo dei Diamanti (Ferrara) for a publishing and theatrical project aimed at explaining the exhibitions to children. In 2013 he started the project “Le parole della bellezza” for “Monumenti Aperti”, which since then has been working to help children discover Italy’s historical, artistic and cultural heritage. He is tireless and passionate in his many activities with children: shows, meetings and writing workshops in theatres, schools and libraries all over Italy.
