Scout Stories

Giada Pavesi is a writer from Cremona, where she lives with her snobbish cat and a few too many plants—but whenever she gets the chance, she grabs her yellow suitcase and sets off on a trip. To justify reading all day, she began studying foreign languages and literature at the University of Milan, and later in Leicester, England. She has worked as a waitress, entertainer, translator, librarian... and probably a few other things too.

An author whose books have been translated into 25 languages, in Italy Davide Morosinotto won the Super Andersen Prize in 2017 with Il Rinomato Catalogo Walker&Dawn (The Pocket Watch Gang), Mondadori, and the Strega Children’s Prize 2021 with La Più Grande (The Greatest), Rizzoli, with which he also entered the IBBY Honour List 2021. A finalist at the prestigious Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis and winner of the Penzberger Urmel in Germany, he has also won the Prix des Bouquineurs en Seine and the Grand Prix des Lecteurs du Journal de Mickey in France, the Vlag en Wimpel and the Zilveren Griffel in Holland, the KJV in Flanders, the Protagonista Jove prize in Catalonia and he was nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2022 in the United Kingdom.

Caterina was born in 1982 in Florence, and perhaps it is this very city that inspired her to immerse herself in the world of Dante, an author she studied extensively before moving on to reading contemporary writers. After working as an archivist, she found her path in the publishing world, joining the Treccani Giunti T.V.P. publishing house, where she has been working for years as a project manager, mainly focusing on secondary school textbooks. In 2011, she edited the collection of letters between poets Parronchi and Bellintani, titled Al vento della vita (Olschki), and in 2015, she collaborated with Giorgio Pinotti on the edition of La pelle by Curzio Malaparte for Adelphi. She is also the co-author, with Carlotta Cubeddu, of Buoni Cattivi propositi (Edizioni EL) and Le notti chiare (Il Castoro).

Viola Gambarini was born and raised in Milan, where she graduated in Indology, focusing on Indian culture, history and traditions. She works as a freelancer for several Italian publishers and in recent years has mainly been involved in children's fiction. She loves travelling, preferably to the East, reading, working on texts with authors, and sailing in search of hidden treasures.

A writer, presenter, TV author and populariser, Federico Taddia collaborates with Topolino, Rai, Radio24 and La Stampa. One of his passions has always been to use the right words to tell the youngest everything that scientists study, look for and discover. He has written books with Margherita Hack, Telmo Pievano, Elisa Palazzi and Antonella Viola. With Teste Toste he won the Andersen Prize for the best science series for girls and boys and with Virus Game he won the Piccolo Galileo prize.

Vernante Pallotti (Verona, 1998) is a writer, screenwriter, and co-founder of the animation studio Gastonia Motion. Her name, given by mistake, means "She who brings spring." Vernante believes that the smartest thing to do today, alongside planting trees, is to prioritize children and teenagers. She does this by writing for them. Her publications include the novels Banshee: gli amori impossibili non muoiono mai (Piemme), Scilla Zanne di Serpente (Il Battello a Vapore), Lidia Poët e il segreto del collegio (Il Battello a Vapore), Festival con Delitto (Il Battello a Vapore), and Così come 6 (Viaggi Straordinari).

Christian Hill is an author and screenwriter. He has written many children’s stories including Il Ladro dei Cieli (The Sky Thief), Rizzoli, winner of the Cento Children’s Literature Prize in 2019, and Olga, una Storia di Pace in Tempo di Guerra (Olga, A Story of Peace in Wartime), Rizzoli, which entered the Italian IBBY Honour List in 2023. His works have been translated into several languages, some of which he can recognise and some of which he can’t. He loves music, role-playing games and his armchair.

Christian Antonini is an author of books for both children and adults, with a passion for history, adventure, and fantasy. He grew up surrounded by books, comics, and games. His novel Fuorigioco a Berlino (Giunti) won the Premio Bancarellino in 2017 and the Premio Il Gigante delle Langhe. In 2023, he was included in the Italian IBBY Honour List with La Musica nelle Ossa (Mondadori).

Andrea Tullio Canobbio is a writer of stories for children and young adults, and has taught at university for many years. Recently, he has collaborated with the Multi, the Multimedia Museum of the Italian Language, and the Mundi, Italy’s National Museum of the Italian Language. He’s a passionate explorer of imaginary people and places. His most recent books include Chaos at Summer Camp (Lapis) and Cora in the Straight City (Erickson), co-written with Azzurra D’Agostino.

Carlotta Cubeddu is an Italian writer and educator. Passionate about popularisation and novels, she manages to combine both her passions. As a reading facilitator and author of the book Penso, Parlo, Posto (To Post or Not to Post), Il Castoro, translated into Russian and Spanish, she also dedicates part of her time to training teachers and parents, sharing her experience with them.