Grazia Deledda was born in 1871 in Nuoro, Sardinia. The street has been renamed after her, via Grazia Deledda. Finished her formal education at 11. She published her first short story when she was 16. Publishes her first novel, Stella D'Orientein 1890 in a Sardinian newspaper. Leaves Nuoro for the first time in 1899 and settles in Cagliari, the principal city of Sardinia. Meets the civil servant Palmiro Madesani who she marries in 1900 and they move to Rome. She writes her best work between 1903-1920 and establishes an international reputation as a novelist. Nearly all of her work in this period is set in Sardinia. Publishes Elias Portolu in 1903. La Madre is published in 1920. She wins the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927. Dies in 1936 and is buried in the church of Madonna della Solitudine in Nuoro, near to where she was born.

Natalia Ginzburg (1916-1991) was born in Sicily and became one of the most important Italian writers of the twentieth century.

She published her first short stories at the age of eighteen, and went on to write dozens of novels, plays and essays, including Voices in the Evening, All our Yesterdays, and Family Lexicon, which won the prestigious Strega Prize in 1963.

She was the first person to translate Proust into Italian. As well as being a prolific writer, she was involved in politics and activism throughout her life, and served in the Italian parliament from 1983-1987.

Andrea De Carlo was born in 1952 in Milan, Italy, where he grew up. After completing a degree in Contemporary History he traveled extensively, living for long periods of time in the United States and in Australia.

He was discovered by Italo Calvino, who wrote the foreword to his first novel, Treno di panna. He has worked with Federico Fellini and with Michelangelo Antonioni, directing the short film, Le facce di Fellini, as well as a film based on his first novel. With Ludovico Einaudi he composed two ballets, Time Out and Salgari.

A musician in his own right, he has recorded two albums, Alcuni nomi and Dentro Giro di vento. His novels have sold millions of copies and have been translated into twenty-six languages.

Giovanni Verga (b. 1840, Catania, Sicily) was an Italian realist writer, best known for his depictions of life in Sicily and his strong use of dialogue.

This dialogic realism would lead to his renown in such novels as I Malavoglia, and the short story Cavalleria Rusticana, which would later be adapted into a play.