Niccolò Ammaniti
Io non ho paura (I'm Not Scared)
A novel, Einaudi 2001, 224 pages

I’m Not Scared was made into an acclaimed film by Gabriele Salvatores in 2008.

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

“A deft masterpiece with never a false note.”
The Guardian

The hottest summer of the twentieth century. A tiny community of five houses in the middle of wheat fields. While the adults shelter indoors, six children venture out on their bikes across the scorched, deserted countryside. In the midst of that sea of golden wheat, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he dare not tell anyone about it. To come to terms with what he finds, he will have to draw strength from his own imagination and sense of humanity. The reader witnesses a dual story: the one that is seen through Michele’s eyes, and the tragedy involving the adults of this isolated hamlet. The result is an immensely powerful, lyrical and skilfully narrated novel, reminiscent of Stephen King’s Stand By Me.

 

 

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 deft masterpiece with never a false note.”
The Guardian

“I’m Not Scared is an exquisite parable. Ammaniti’s short staccato sentences effectively describe the isolation and simplicity of rural subsistence, while long passages of direct dialogue touchingly portray the children’s naïve perceptions.”
The Daily Telegraph

“Ammaniti’s prose is faultless from the first… The brevity of his sentences, the clarity and perfection of each image, gives his novel some of the flavour of a child’s picture book.”
The Independent on Sunday

“Beneath this simplicity, Ammaniti weaves in the fairytale metaphors we know so well, giving the novel a haunting profundity.”
Sunday Herald

“The novel is saved from sensationalism by Ammaniti’s almost cinematic ability to conjure detail—the look of scraps of meat on a plate, the sheen of a new bike, the whispers of adults in the night—and by his utterly convincing re-creation of a child’s perspective, as Michele’s discovery propels him into ever more uncertain territory.”
The New Yorker

“Part mystery, part morality play, the novel is written in simple, spare prose. The characters, particularly that of Michele, spring to life, and the story builds to a heart-stopping climax. Readers will find this accomplished work hard to put down and even harder to forget.”
Publishers Weekly

“Ammaniti encloses a suspense story as gripping as any Hitchcock thriller.”
The Washington Post

“Considered one of Italy’s best young novelists today, Ammaniti deftly handles an incredible plot twist.”
LA Times

“Niccolo Ammaniti is talented, his descriptions of the sun-baked Italian earth give off a heat that singes the reader’s fingertips.”
San Francisco Chronicle

“Reading I’m Not Scared is an exciting, provocative experience. Ammaniti has distinguished himself as the most talented of his peers.”
New York Times

“This book is breathless, and surprising, to the last word.”
The Baltimore Sun

“What a beautiful novel it is.”
Bookslut

Foreign rights sold in
Albania: Botimet Dudaj
Arabic world: Sharq/Gharb (e/o Europa)
Armenia: Zangak
Australia: Text Publishing
Brazil: Bertrand Editora Brasil
Bulgaria: Colibri
China: Crown Publishing, Horizon Media, Shanghai 99 Reader’s Culture
Croatia: AGM
Czech Republic: Havran
Denmark: Gyldendal
Estonia: Pegasus
Finland: Otava Publishing
France: Grasset, Laffont
Germany: Fischer, Reclam
Greece: Kastaniotis
Hungary: Ulpius Haz, Európa Könyvkiadó
Iceland: Bjartur
Israel: Kinneret
Japan: Hayakawa Shobo
Latvia: Jāņa Rozes apgāds
Lithuania: Tyto alba
Korea: Sigongsa
Kuwait and Middle East: Dar Kalemat
Macedonia: Kultura
Mozambico: Trinta Zero Nove
The Netherlands: Wereldbibliotheek, 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: Študentska založba
Slovakia: Slovart
Spain and Latin America (Castilian): Grijalbo, Anagrama
Spain (Catalan): Empuries
Sweden: Norstedts
Thailand: Butterfly Publishing
Turkey: Can Yayinlari
Uk: Canongate
Vietnam: Phu Nu

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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