The Italian novelist who writes
under the pen name of Elena Ferrante is to write for British
daily the Guardian.
Ferrante will write a weekly column on various topics
starting with her first love, the progressive British daily said
Thursday.
The author told the daily she wanted to "put myself to the
test" with a regular job and described the experience as "a
daring writing exercise".
Ann Goldstein, translator of all Ferrante's book including
the best-selling Neapolitan Quartet, will translate the
articles.
Ferrante's wildly popular Neapolitan novels are set to be
turned into a series directed by Italian film director Saverio
Costanzo for HBO and Italian broadcaster RAI.
Shooting runs in Naples from January to June this year for
the series based on the four novels: My Brilliant Friend, The
Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The
Story of the Lost Child.
Casting director Laura Muccino has yet to pick the young
actors to play the principal roles of Lina and Lenu', characters
who have developed a cult international following.
The series, called The Neapolitan Novels, will tell the tale
of the two female protagonists' interwoven stories from their
childhood at the end of WWII to the turn of the millennium.
Costanzo, whose credits include Private, The Solitude of
Primary Numbers and Hungry Hearts, has written the screenplay
with Neapolitan novelist Francesco Piccolo and writer Laura
Paolucci, with the help of Ferrante.
Ferrante's identity is still an official secret although she
was allegedly outed last year as a Roman translator of German
feminist fiction, Anita Raja, prompting an international outcry
among the novelist's protective fans.
Raja has previously denied she was the author.
Costanzo told The New York Times in a telephone interview
that he wasn't interested in the author's true identity. "It's
her literary reality that counts," he said. "I'm one of those
people who don't care who she is."
Locations have yet to be chosen but the Campania Film
Commission hopes the whole series can be filmed in Naples, apart
from parts of the works that are set in Milan, Naples and
France.
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