Alessandro Baricco was born in Torino, Italy, in 1958. Having completed his studies in music and philosophy, he started his career as a music critic for the newspaper "La Repubblica", and then became the cultural editorial writer for "La Stampa". His love for music and literature influenced his works from the beginning of his literary career. His television career began in 1993, when he presented a show dedicated to opera, with the aim of making it more accessible to the general public. This was followed by another programme revolving around literature and some radio transmissions. Although most of his works are novels and essays (for which he was rewarded with the Premio Viareggio and the Premio Selezione Campiello), he has also written a theatre monologue and has published two volumes made up of a collection of his newspaper articles. In 1994 he founded the Holden School in Torino for aspiring writers. Courses are dedicated to narration techniques, whether for writing books, comic-strips, for cinema purposes, etc. Baricco continues to direct the school and he still collaborates to several newspapers and magazines.