Donatella Di Pietrantonio was born and spent her childhood in Arsita, near Teramo. She started writing stories, fairytales and poems at the age of nine; when she is not writing, she works as a dentist for children in Penne, near Pescara, where she lives with her family. In 2011 she made her debut with the very successful novel Mia madre è un fiume, the story of a mother and a daughter and of a past of memories not to be forgotten. Her second novel, Bella mia (2014), takes place in L'Aquila after the earthquake of 2009. With this work she won the Brancati Prize and the Vittoriano Esposito Città di Celano Prize. Her third novel, published by Einaudi in 2017, is L'Arminuta, followed in 2021 by Borgo Sud.

(photo: © Giliola Chistè)