#INTYALITMONTH: Italian YA in Translation

Posted on by katieday

Written by Kim Beeman

The list below is loosely, but mostly, young adult books, all translated from Italian into English. As I have discovered in my time in Italy, relatively few middle grade and young adult books have been translated from Italian into English. Last October was #ItalianLit month on GLLI, and this wrap-up post includes links to many posts about great Italian literature. I have included a few additional links at the end for books for younger readers and one book that has not yet been translated, but is quite popular in Italy. My hope is that you will find a few new Italian titles and authors to add to your collections! 

Pinocchio! As the third-most translated book in the world (available in 260 languages!), and the single most translated Italian book, a list of Italian books for young people would not be complete without it. This is definitely a case, though, where the specific edition matters. I recommend the English edition linked to above (translated by Evelyn Harden in 1944), with illustrations by Roberto Innocenti (1988). (Innocenti has illustrated many other award-winning books, including Rose Blanche). His illustrations bring the darkness and realism (notably missing from the Disney and Disney-fied editions!) of Carlo Collodi’s words (written in 1882) to life. See the images below for a sampling:

Glowrushes was published in 1987, and is the most famous of Robert Piumini’s books. Piumini is widely considered one of Italy’s most popular and important children’s books authors; he received the Rodari Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 and was nominated for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award. Pushkin Children’s Books published a new edition of Glowrushes in 2023, with a translation by Leah Janeczko. (See Leah’s longer post about  Glowrushes for GLLI here!)

Glowrushes features a doting father and his ailing son, who is confined to a few rooms in their home because of his illness. The father commissions a mural painter to bring the outside world to his son on the walls all around him. Calling Glowrushes YA is a bit of a stretch – it is more properly a middle grade book – but it is a modern classic and could definitely appeal to younger YA readers. 

You can buy a copy of Glowrushes here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

In the Sea There Are Crocodiles (written by Fabio Geda, 2010; translated by Howard Curtis, 2011) is what I might call a “mostly memoir”. As the subtitle suggests, it is “based on the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari”. The author artfully retells Enaiat’s story, which is based on a series of interviews with Enaiat. The story takes him from age 10 at home in Afghanistan, under Taliban rule, through Pakistan, Turkey and Greece, and finally Italy, where he  seeks political asylum at age 15. An excellent addition to titles about refugees and exiles in your collection. 

You can buy a copy of In the Sea There Are Crocodiles here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

Before the publication of Italian Folktales (1956), there had been no major attempt to bring together the Italian folkloric tradition in one collection. Italo Calvino not only collected the tales, but reworked them in his distinctive style. The George Martin translation (1981) is a wonderful book for any library’s folklore collection. Though Calvino is best known for his literary fiction, this collection puts him in the company of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. 

You can buy a copy of Italian Folktales here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

Originally published in 1994, Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band by Enrico Brizzi (and translated by Stash Luczkiw) is quintessential GenX YA coming-of-age Italian lit (if that is even a genre!). The protagonist, Alex D., lives in Bologna and is bored with everything and everyone, tired of school and his parents and his friends. He skips school, he listens to the Clash and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he drinks with the other wannabe dropouts. His world changes when he meets Aidi, and falls for her completely. A bittersweet look at the transition from adolescence to adulthood. 

You can buy a copy of Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

In The Last Dragon (by Silvana De Mari; translated by Shaun Whiteside, 2004), Yorsh the elf lives in a world of endless rain, penned into an Elf Camp he cannot leave, forbidden to make friends with outsiders. When a massive flood destroys his village, he befriends some humans, and ends up in jail, where he learns of a prophecy involving the “last elf” and the “last dragon”. Convinced he is the last elf, he heads off in search of the last dragon. In the end, the prophecy doesn’t amount to much, but Yorsh and his friends find a way to break free and create a new, more just country. It is important to note that Silvana De Mari is a fairly controversial figure in Italy; she has spoken out in support of many right-wing causes and has had her medical license revoked in Italy. 

You can find a copy of The Last Dragon in a library here.

Licia Troisi is an astrophysicist who works for the Italian Space Agency. She wrote Nihal of the Land of the Wind (2004) when she was only twenty-four, and it sold nearly a million copies in Italy. The English translation was published in 2014; it has also been translated into German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, and other languages. The first book in a trilogy (Chronicles of the Emerged World), Nihal follows the titular character, an orphan in a strange land, who is an expert at swordplay as she trains to be a warrior and enters an elite academy for Dragon Riders. There are a few battles, but the focus of the book is on Nihal’s journey and development. This book would appeal to fans of Eragon.

You can find a copy of Nihal of the Land of the Wind in a library here.

Run for Your Life (written by Silvana Gandolfi, 2010; translated by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, 2018) is based on a real-life episode involving the mafia in Palermo, Sicily. The book follows Santino, a young boy from Palermo, and Lucio, a young boy from Livorno. Their lives converge following the sudden deaths of Santino’s father and grandfather at the hands of the mafia and the disappearance of Lucio’s ill mother. This could make a good companion read (for Italian speakers) to Per Questo Mi Chiamo Giovanni. 

You can buy a copy of Run For Your Life here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

In The Solitude of Prime Numbers (written by Paolo Giordano, 2008; translated by Shaun Whiteside), Mattia and Alice both identify as “primes”, misfits who do not fit into the world around them. They were both marked by tragedy in their childhoods – Alice was permanently disabled by a skiing accident and Mattia by the disappearance of his disabled sister after he briefly abandoned her at a park. The two are brought together as teenagers and form a close, but not romantic, bond. They drift apart but are brought back together later in life, still close but never romantic (like “prime pairs”). It may appeal to readers who liked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. It won the 2008 Strega Prize and was made into a movie in 2010. 

You can buy a copy of The Solitude of Prime Numbers here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

What Hell Is Not (written by Alessandro D’Avenia, 2014; translated by Jeremy Parven) brings us back to Palermo, this time with a privileged teenager, Federico, and a well-intentioned priest, Father Pino. This book is also based on a true story, this time of a priest who worked with at-risk youth in Palermo. Federico decides to turn down an opportunity to study English at Oxford for the summer and instead help Father Pino at a youth center in a part of the city that has been ravaged by violence, poverty, and the mafia. Then Father Pino is murdered, and Federico must grapple with the city and the people around him in a whole new way. This book is on the boundary of young adult and adult – it may appeal to readers who like Elena Ferrante. Another popular title by the same author: Things No One Knows. 

You can buy a copy of What Hell is Not here or find it in a library here. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)

Honorable Mentions: Other books, some for younger readers, or not yet translated 

If there are any titles you love that I have missed, please leave them in the comments! 

Kim Beeman is currently the Upper School Librarian at the International School of Florence. Before moving to Italy, Kim spent over a decade in Asia, working as a librarian at Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok and Tanglin Trust School in Singapore. She also co-founded the International School Librarians in Europe conference, and is a member of the advisory board for the Librarians Knowledge Sharing Workshop. Before working in school libraries, Kim worked as a cookbook librarian at The French Culinary Institute in New York City for many years, where she completed the professional culinary program and was certified as a sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers.  [LinkedIn]

Katie Day is an international school teacher-librarian in Singapore and has been an American expatriate for almost 40 years (most of those in Asia). She is currently the chair of the 2025 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize and co-chair of the Neev Book Award in India, as well as heavily involved with the Singapore Red Dot Book Awards. Katie was the guest curator on the GLLI blog for the UN #SDGLitMonth in March 2021 and guest co-curator for #IndiaKidLitMonth in September 2022.

2 thoughts on “#INTYALITMONTH: Italian YA in Translation”

  1. Pingback: Wrap-up to GLLI’s 2025 #IntlYALitMonth | Global Literature in Libraries Initiative
  2. Pingback: Welcome to #WorldKidLit Month on GLLI! | Global Literature in Libraries Initiative

Leave a comment