“Occupying oneself with public language and its quality is neither a luxury for intellectuals nor a question for academics. It is a crucial duty of civil ethics.”
You cannot think clearly if you cannot speak and write clearly. These are the words of the philosopher John Searle, a theoretician on the relationship between language and institutional reality.
Societies are constructed and held together essentially on a linguistic premise: based on the fact that saying something involves a commitment to the truth and correctness with respect to the listener.
Not observing this commitment puts the first social contract of the community in danger, that is, the trust in a shared language. The antidote is civil writing, clear and democratic, respectful of words and ideas. Writing well, in every field, has a direct correspondence to the quality of reasoning and thought. It implies clarity of ideas on the part of whoever is writing and produces in the reader the perception of honesty.
Gianrico Carofiglio
Gianrico Carofiglio was born in Bari and has worked for many years as a prosecutor specializing in organized crime. He was appointed advisor of the anti-Mafia committee in the Italian Parliament in 2007 and served as a senator from 2008 to 2013. He is the author of the novels featuring the character of the defense lawyer Guido Guerrieri: Testimone inconsapevole (Involuntary Witness, 2002), Ad occhi chiusi (A Walk in the Dark, 2003, Best International Noir of the year 2007 in Germany), Ragionevoli dubbi (Reasonable Doubts, 2006), Le perfezioni provvisorie (Temporary Perfections, 2010, Premio Selezione Campiello), La regola dell’equilibrio (A Fine Line, 2014), La misura del tempo (The Measure of Time, 2019, Premio Strega 2020 finalist). Officer of the Carabinieri Pietro Fenoglio is the protagonist of another series of novels: Una mutevole verità (A Shifting Truth, 2014, Premio Scerbanenco), L’estate fredda (The Cold Summer, 2016), La versione di Fenoglio (Fenoglio’s Version, 2019).
Among his fiction works: Il passato è una terra straniera (The Past is a Foreign Land, 2004, Premio Bancarella 2005), adapted into an internationally awarded film, Né qui né altrove (Neither Here Nor Elsewhere. A Night in Bari, 2009), Non esiste saggezza (There is No Wisdom, 2010, 2020), Il silenzio dell’onda (The Silence of the Wave, 2011, finalist for Premio Strega 2012), Il bordo vertiginoso delle cose (The Vertiginous Edge of Things, 2013), La casa nel bosco (The House in the Woods, 2014), written with his brother Francesco, Passeggeri notturni (Night Passengers, 2016), Le tre del mattino (Three O’Clock in the Morning, 2017), La disciplina di Penelope (Penelope’s Discipline, 2021) and Rancore (Resentment, 2022). Among his non-fiction books: La manomissione delle parole (Manumitting Words, 2010), Con parole precise (With exact words, 2015), Con i piedi nel fango (Feet in the Mud, 2018), Della gentilezza e del coraggio (On Kindness and Courage, 2020), La nuova manomissione delle parole (2021) and L’ora del caffè (Coffe Time, 2022). Many titles are also audiobooks, read by the author. In 2020 was released L’avvocato Guerrieri, Gianrico Carofiglio’s first audio-series. He has a podcast with his daughter Giorgia, called Coffee for Two. Gianrico Carofiglio’s multi-award winner and best selling books are translated into 27 languages worldwide.
Download here Gianrico Carofiglio rights catalogue.
Guido Guerrieri novels
- La misura del tempo (The Measure of Time)
- La regola dell’equilibrio (A Fine Line)
- Le perfezioni provvisorie (Temporary Perfections)
- Ragionevoli dubbi (Reasonable Doubts)
- Ad occhi chiusi (A Walk in the Dark)
- Testimone inconsapevole (Involuntary Witness)
Pietro Fenoglio novels
- La versione di Fenoglio (Fenoglio’s Version)
- L’estate fredda (The Cold Summer)
- Una mutevole verità (A Shifting Truth)
Penelope Spada novels
Novels
- Le tre del mattino (Three O’Clock in the Morning)
- La casa nel bosco (The House in the Woods)
- Il bordo vertiginoso delle cose (The Vertiginous Edge of Things)
- Il silenzio dell’onda (The Silence of the Wave)
- Il passato è una terra straniera (The Past is a Foreign Land)
Short stories collections
Essays
- L’ora del caffè (Coffee Time)
- La nuova manomissione delle parole (Manumitting Words – New Edition)
- Della gentilezza e del coraggio (Of Kindness and Courage)
- Con i piedi nel fango (Feet in the Mud)
- Con parole precise (With exact words)
- La manomissione delle parole (Manumitting Words)
- L’arte del dubbio (The Art of Doubt)
Link
Gianrico Carofiglio on Twitter
Press
Con parole precise – A selected press review
Video
Gianrico Carofiglio guest at Pane quotidiano, Rai 3
Gianrico Carofiglio at Rep Idee 2016
Foreign publishers of Gianrico Carofiglio’s works
Albania: Fjala
Argentina: El Ateneo
Australia and New Zealand: Text Publishing
Austria: Folio Verlag
Bosnia: Buybook
Brazil: Editora Jaboticaba
Czech Republic: Host
Denmark: HR Ferdinand
Ethiopia: Soomaalyia
Finland: Kustannus Moreeni
France: Payot e Rivages, Seuil, Slatkine
Germany: Goldmann, Folio Verlag, Scoventa
Greece: Alexandria, Modern Times
Israel: Achuzat Bayit Books
Japan: Bungei ShunJu
Kenya: Soomaalyia
Lithuania: Homo liber
Mexico: Urano
The Netherlands: Prometheus
Poland: W.A.B. Foksal
Portugal: Porto Editora
Romania: Leda
Russia: Inostranka
Serbia: Clio Publishing
Somalia: Soomaalyia
Spain (Castilian): Urano, La Esfera de los Libros, Anagrama
Spain (Catalan): Edicions 62
Sweden: Schibsted, Forum
Switzerland (French): Slatkine
Tanzania: Soomaalyia
Turkey: Neden Kitap
Uganda: Soomaalyia
UK: Bitter Lemon Press, Old Street Publishing
US: Thomas Dunne, Rizzoli International
Vietnam: Nhã Nam