Niccolò Ammaniti
Io e te (Me and You)
A novel, Einaudi Stile Libero 2010, 116 pages

Me and You was made into a film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 2012.

“The new Italian word for talent is Ammaniti.”
The Times

“A fearsomely gifted writer.”
The Independent

From internationally best-selling author Niccolò Ammaniti, comes a funny, tragic, gut-punch of a novel, charting how an unlikely alliance between two outsiders blows open one family’s secrets.
Lorenzo Cumi is a fourteen-year-old misfit. To quell the anxiety of his concerned, socially conscious parents, he tells them he’s been invited on an exclusive ski vacation with the popular kids. On the morning of the trip, Lorenzo demands that his mother drop him off before they arrive at the train station, insisting that his status will be compromised if he shows up accompanied by his mother. Reluctantly, she agrees, and as soon as she is safely out of the vicinity, he turns around and makes his way back to his neighborhood, to put his real plan in motion: for one blessed week, Lorenzo will retreat to a forgotten cellar in his family’s apartment building, where he will live in perfect isolation, keeping the adult world at bay.
But when his estranged half-sister, Olivia, shows up in the cellar unexpectedly, his idyll is shattered, and the two become locked in a battle of wills — forced to confront the very demons they are each struggling to escape.

Niccolò Ammaniti

Niccolò Ammaniti was born and lives in Rome. He made his debut in fiction in 1995 with the novel Branchie. He is the author of award-winning novels and short stories, translated in 44 countries: Fango (1996), Ti prendo e ti porto via (1999), Io non ho paura (2001, Premio Viareggio), Come Dio comanda (2006, Premio Strega), Che la festa cominci (2009), Io e te (2010), Il momento è delicato (2012), Anna (2015) and La vita intima (The Intimate Life, 2023). In 2014 he edited the anthology Figuracce, which includes the short story Marco Risi contro la Maga della Maglianella.

Many of his books have been successfully made into films: L’ultimo capodanno (directed by Marco Risi, 1998); Branchie (directed by Francesco Ranieri Martinotti, 1999); Io non ho paura and Come Dio comanda (both directed by Gabriele Salvatores, 2003 and 2008), Io e te (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, 2012). Following his work as author and director of the feature-length doc The Good Life (2014), Ammaniti has made his TV debut with The Miracle, a SKY original series for which he was showrunner, co-writer and co-director that also aired in France, Germany, Spain and UK. In 2019 Ammaniti received the Series Con Award. Ammaniti is also showrunner, co-writer and director of Anna, a Sky original TV series, based on the novel of the same name.

In January 2017, Niccolò Ammaniti has been awarded a honorary degree in Philology, Literature, and History.

 

“The new Italian word for talent is Ammaniti.”
The Times

“A fearsomely gifted writer.”
The Independent

“A master storyteller.”
The Guardian

“Exuberant and audacious.”
The Observer

“Immensely engaging… Both tender and emotionally arresting, Ammaniti’s novel is unforgettable.”
Publishers Weekly

“[Niccolo Ammaniti] elegizes adolescence fiercely and sympathetically. His 14-year-old hero, Lorenzo Cumi, is a great character, part Young Werther, part Kurt Cobain… [Me and You] is scary, lovely and at last a heartbreaker.”
Kirkus Review

“The story of a young boy who’s heading towards adulthood. This book amazed me.”
Bernardo Bertolucci

 

Foreign rights sold in
Arabic world: Sharq/Gharb (e/o Europa)
Brazil: Bertrand Editora Brasil
Czech Republic: NLN, Nakladatelstvì Lidové noviny
Egypt: Beba Editions
Estonia: Pegasus Publishers
France: Robert Laffont
Georgia: Sulakauri
Germany: Piper Verlag
Greece: Kastaniotis
Hungary: Euròpa Kiadò
Japan: Kawade Shobo Shinsha
Korea: Sigongsa
Kuwait and Middle East: Dar Kalemat
Lithuania: Alma Littera
The Netherlands: Lebowski
Portugal: Bertrand Editora
Russia: Corpus Books
Serbia: Plato Books
Slovenia: Studentska zalozb
Slovakia: VLNA
Spain (Castilian): Anagrama
Spain (Catalan): Angle Editorial
Sweden: Contempo
Turkey: Can Yayinlari
Uk: Canongate
Us: Black Cat-Grove Atlantic

Italian and international editions

Foreign publishers of Niccolò Ammaniti’s works:
Albania: Botimet Dudaj
Armenia: Zangak
Australia: Text Publishing
Brazil: Companhia das Letras, Bertrand Editora Brasil
Bulgaria: Colibri
China: Shangai 99, Crown Publishing, Horizon Media
Croatia: AGM, Profil, Vorto Palabra
Czech Republic: Havran, NLN, Nakladatelstvì Lidové noviny
Denmark: Gyldendal
Egypt: Beba Editions
Estonia: Pegasus
Finland: Otava Publishing
France: Edition du Félin, Grasset, Laffont
Georgia: Sulakauri
Germany: Fischer, Reclam, Piper
Greece: Perugia, Kastaniotis, Metaixmio
Hungary: Ulpius Haz, Noram kiado, Európa Könyvkiadó
Iceland: Bjartur
Israel: Kinneret
Japan: Hayakawa Shobo
Korea: SeamulkiulSigongsa
Kuwait and Middle East: Dar Kalemat
Latvia: Jāņa Rozes apgāds
Lithuania: Tyto Alba, Alma Littera
Macedonia: Kultura, Magor, Antolog Books
Mozambico: Societade Ediotorial Ndjira
The Netherlands: Wereldbibliotheek, Prometheus, Lebowski
Norway: HR Ferdinand, Vigmostad og Bjørke
Poland: Muza
Portugal: Dom Quixote, Bertrand Editora
Portugal (Mozambico): Sociedade editorial Ndjira
Romania: Humanitas
Russia: Machaon, Inostranka, Atticus
Serbia: Plato Books
Slovenia: Goga, Študentska založba
Slovakia: Slovart, Ikar
Spain and Latin America (Castilian): Grijalbo, Anagrama
Spain (Catalan): Empuries, Angle Editorial
Sweden: Norstedts
Thailand: Butterfly Publishing
Turkey: Can Yayinlari, Doğan Kitap
UK: Canongate
US: Canongate US, Black Cat-Grove Atlantic
Vietnam: Phu Nu

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