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Claudia Durastanti

b. 1984

Italian journalist and writer

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About Claudia Durastanti

Born 1984. Claudia Durastanti is an Italian and American journalist, writer and translator.

Claudia Durastanti (born 8 June 1984) is an Italian writer and translator.

Early life Durastanti was born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst to two deaf Italian parents, who divorced in 1990. After their divorce, Durastanti (aged 6) moved to the Basilicata region of southern Italy with her mother. This and other aspects of her life (like an incident in which her father kidnapped her as a child) are described in her semi-autobiographical novel La Straniera (published in English as Strangers I Know).

Durastanti studied cultural anthropology at the Sapienza University of Rome and continued her studies at De Montfort University. She then returned to Rome where she earned a master's degree in publishing and journalism.

Career Durastanti was shortlisted for the 2019 Strega Prize and Viareggio Prize with La Straniera (La nave di Teseo, 2019). The book is translated into twenty-one languages and is being adapted into a TV show.

Her work has appeared in Granta, the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Serving Library.

She is a board member of the Turin International Book Fair and co-founded the Italian Festival of Literature in London.

She has translated several works into Italian, including Joshua Cohen's The Netanyahus and Donna Haraway's Staying with the Trouble, as well as Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. and serves as a curator for the feminist imprint La Tartaruga, founded by Laura Lepetit in 1975.

Personal life At various points in her life, she has lived in Brooklyn, Basilicata, London, and Rome. After the publication of Strangers I Know, she briefly lived in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, before moving back to Rome, where she lived as of January 2023.

Works In Italian Un giorno verrò a lanciare sassi alla tua finestra, Venezia, Marsilio, 2010 . A Chloe, per le ragioni sbagliate, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013 . Cleopatra va in prigione, Roma, minimum fax, 2016 . La straniera, Milano, La nave di Teseo, 2019 .

Translations Il fantasma del sabato sera. Interviste sulla vita e la musica (Tom Waits on Tom Waits: Interviews and Encounters) by Tom Waits, Rome, minimum fax, 2012 Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2014 Il cuore degli uomini (The Hearts of Men) by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2017 Future sex by Emily Witt, Rome, minimum fax, 2017 Sotto il falò (Beneath the Bonfire) by Nickolas Butler, Venice, Marsilio, 2018 Atlante sentimentale dei colori (The Secret Lives of Colour) by Kassia St Clair, Turin, UTET, 2018 Un'altra occupazione (Moving Kings) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2018 Il museo delle relazioni interrotte by Olinka Vištica and Drazen Grubisic, Milan, Mondadori, 2018 Le regole non valgono (The Rules Do Not Apply) by Ariel Levy, Milan, Bompiani, 2018 In cucina con Kafka (Baking with Kafka) by Tom Gauld, Milan, Mondadori, 2018 "Il trucco della bottiglia" by Nalo Hopkinson, "Il sonno delle piante" by Anne Richter, "Racconti dal seno" by Hiromi Goto in Le Visionarie. Fantascienza, fantasy e femminismo: un'antologia (Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology) by AA. VV., edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Rome, NERO, 2018 Mooncop. Poliziotto lunare by Tom Gauld, Milan, Mondadori, 2019 Il libro dei numeri (Book of Numbers) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2019 La trama del mondo. I tessuti che hanno fatto la storia by Kassia St Clair, Torino, UTET, 2019 Chthulucene (Staying with the Trouble) by Donna Haraway, Rome, NERO, 2019, (with Clara Ciccioni) Schadenfreude. La gioia per le disgrazie altrui by Tiffany Watt Smith, Turin, UTET, 2019 Brevemente risplendiamo sulla terra (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous) by Ocean Vuong, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2020 Tempi eccitanti (Exciting Times) by Naoise Dolan, Rome, Edizioni Atlantide, 2020 Madre delle ossa (The Bone Mother) by David Demchuk, Milan, Zona 42, 2020 La nostra furiosa amicizia (The Knockout Queen) by Rufi Thorpe, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 2021 La fattoria degli animali (Animal Farm) by George Orwell, Milan, Garzanti, 2021 Quattro nuovi messaggi (Four New Messages) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2021 Tempi moderni (Modern Times) by Cathy Sweeney, Milan, il Saggiatore, 2021 Notti insonni (Sleepless Nights) by Elizabeth Hardwick, Milan, Blackie Edizioni, 2021 Chinatown interiore (Interior Chinatown) by Charles Yu, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2021 ISBN 9788834606353 I Terranauti (The Terranauts) by T. C. Boyle, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2022 Un fantasma in gola (A Ghost in the Throat) by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Milan, Il Saggiatore, 2022 I Netanyahu (The Netanyahus) by Joshua Cohen, Turin, Codice Edizioni, 2022 Le cinque ferite (The Five Wounds) by Kirstin Valdez Quade, Milan, La nave di Teseo, 2022 Notte al neon (Night, Neon: Tales of Mystery and Suspense) by Joyce Carol Oates, Carbonio editore 2022 Sangue e viscere al liceo (Blood and Guts in High School) by Kathy Acker, Bari, LiberAria Editrice, 2023 Il fratello del famoso Jack (Brother of the More Famous Jack) by Barbara Trapido, Milan, HarperCollins Italia, 2023 Passeggiare la notte (Nightcrawling) by Leila Mottley, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 2023 Gli uomini (The Men) by Sandra Newman, Florence, Ponte Alle Grazie, 2023 La coppia felice (The Happy Couple) by Naoise Dolan, Rome, Edizioni di Atlantide, 2023

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Education
Sapienza University of Rome, De Montfort University

People in Claudia Durastanti's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Claudia Durastanti's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Claudia Durastanti?

Italian journalist and writer

When was Claudia Durastanti born?

Claudia Durastanti was born on 8 June 1984 in Brooklyn.

What is Claudia Durastanti's occupation?

Claudia Durastanti is a journalist, writer and translator.

What nationality is Claudia Durastanti?

Claudia Durastanti is Italian and American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Claudia Durastanti

· Wikidata: Q15976350

· DBpedia: Claudia Durastanti

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Claudia Durastanti. https://biography.guide/claudia-durastanti/

MLA: "Claudia Durastanti." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/claudia-durastanti/.

Chicago: "Claudia Durastanti." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/claudia-durastanti/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-22 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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