A journalist, novelist, and screenwriter among the most prominent and acclaimed figures on the French literary scene, Olivier Guez has honed his perspective on the world through independent reporting across Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. After initially focusing primarily on non-fiction and journalism – authoring, for instance, two splendid football essays originally collected in Une passion absurde et dévorante – he made his fiction debut in 2014 with the novel Les révolutions de Jacques Koskas. Geopolitics and history remain the core of his literary work: his masterfully documented novel La disparition de Josef Mengele (The Disappearance of Josef Mengele), centered on the escape of the German war criminal, earned a vast international following and won the Prix Renaudot in 2017. Published in Italy by Neri Pozza, the work also inspired a graphic novel adaptation published by La nave di Teseo and a feature film directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, which was released in Italian cinemas in early 2026, featuring a brilliant performance by August Diehl as the Nazi official. Also active in film industry, Guez received the Deutscher Filmpreis for Best Screenplay in 2016 for the movie Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer (The People vs. Fritz Bauer). In 2024, he returned to bookstores with Mesopotamia, a remarkable portrait of Gertrude Bell, the British archaeologist, writer, and spy who shaped the destiny of Iraq. On September 1, 2026, Les révolutions de Jacques Koskas will be published in Italy by La nave di Teseo, a tragicomedy filled with irony and alienation that marked his debut as a novelist.

(photo: © Giliola Chistè)