Gianrico Carofiglio (Bari 1961)
has been for years an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Bari, main town of the southern region of Puglia, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. He has been involved with investigations and trials concerning corruption, organized crime and the traffic in human beings. In 2007-2008 he was advisor of the anti-Mafia Committee in the Italian Parliament in Rome and in 2008 he has been elected Senator with the Democratic Party. As a Senator he continues contributing to the anti-Mafia Committee's activities. He is considered one of the major specialists in investigation techniques referring to the organized crime and an expert of psychology applied to investigation. He has written and published several articles and essays in this specific field.
A successful novelist as well, Carofiglio published his first novel Testimone inconsapevole (Involuntary Witness), 2002, with the Italian publishing house Sellerio, introducing a defense lawyer as the main character, Guido Guerrieri. The book became an immediate bestseller, obtained several literary awards for first novel (Marisa Rusconi, Rhegium Iulii, Città di Cuneo and Città di Chiavari Awards) and has been constantly reprinted, reaching now its fifty-eighth reprint.
Two more pluri-awarded novels followed with Guido Guerrieri as the main character, Ad occhi chiusi (A Walk in the Dark), 2003, Lido di Camaiore and Biblioteche di Roma Awards, and Ragionevoli dubbi (Reasonable Doubts), 2006, Fregene and Viadana Awards in 2007, Tropea Award in 2008. Two tv-movies have been developed from Involuntary Witness and A Walk in the Dark.
In 2004 a new novel has been published by Rizzoli, Il passato è una terra straniera (The Past is a Foreign Country), Bancarella Award in 2005 (assigned for the first time in 1953 to Ernest Hemingway, for The Old Man and the Sea). The Past is a Foreign Country became an international movie produced by Fandango in 2008, Best Film and Best Actor at the Miami Film Festival. In 2007 Gianrico Carofiglio published an essay with Sellerio, L'arte del dubbio (The Art of the Doubt), and, together with his brother Francesco, a graphic novel with Rizzoli, Cacciatori nelle tenebre (Hunters in Darkness), which obtained the Martoglio Award. In 2008 Carofiglio received the Bremen Prize and the Grinzane Cavour Noir Award. He published with Laterza Né qui né altrove (Neither Here Nor Elsewhere), first novel in the publishing house history, at the top of the best seller lists for months. In 2009, with the publishing house Nottetempo, the dialogue Il paradosso del poliziotto (The Policeman's Paradox).
In January 2010 Sellerio launched the fourth novel with the Guido Guerrieri character, Le perfezioni provvisorie(Temporary Perfections), Campiello Award Selection, Number One Bestseller for eight weeks, with 450.000 copies in print. The audiobook, published by Emons in March, is read by the author himself. In May, a collection of short stories for Rizzoli, Non esiste saggezza (There is No Wisdom), Chiara Award, fifteen editions, 225.000 copies in print, followed in October by La manomissione delle parole (Manumitting Words), seven editions, 160.000 copies in print, a literary essay about the power of words, focusing on five key words taken from civil lexicon: shame, justice, rebellion, beauty and choice.
In October 2011 Rizzoli will launch his longed-for novel The Silence of the Wave. With a fast-paced and aching story about fathers and sons, human faults, absences and fragilities, Gianrico Carofiglio gives his readers a new, unforgettable character.
Gianrico Carofiglio's books are translated or under translation in 24 languages and published or to be published in more 130 countries.
He lives with his wife and two children in Bari but spends most of the week in Rome, for the parliamentary activity at the Senate.