This collection is for readers who love sports—and for those who can’t stand them. How is that possible? Because here, the athletic performance is only the starting point. What follows is shaped by breathlessness, the body’s unexpected betrayals, and the quiet, often invisible victories that come when we stop fighting our limits and start listening to them. In this dialogue of determination, dust, and perseverance, the heart becomes the strongest muscle of all, capable of turning every setback into an epic story.
Pierdomenico Baccalario has been writing children’s novels since 1997, when he won the Il Battello a Vapore literary prize with La strada del Guerriero (The Way of the Warrior) using his neighbour’s name. Since then, his bestsellers have been written under as many pseudonyms (the best known being Ulysses Moore and Irene Adler), translated into more than thirty languages and published with major Italian and foreign publishers. He has collaborated with Lucca Comics & Games for more than twenty years, has written for Repubblica and is a columnist for the newspaper Corriere della Sera’s La Lettura literary supplement. In 2014, he founded the Book on a Tree creative agency in London.
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).
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.
Daniele Nicastro was born in 1978. He currently lives in the province of Cuneo, where he writes all sorts of things: novels, postcards, messages in bottles, and phrases on walls. He started telling stories as a teenager—to his mother—every time he came home late without letting her know. Over time, he turned it into a profession. He made his debut with the novel Grande, which won the Legenda Junior Prize. With Fino all’ultima #challenge (Lapis Edizioni), he was a finalist for the 2024 Bancarellino Prize. As a children's and young adult author, he has published over 50 books, which have been translated into several languages. Coming-of-age novels and comics are his greatest passion.
Alessandro Barbaglia (born in 1980) is an Italian writer and bookseller based in Novara. His novels published by Mondadori include The Inn of the Last Solitude, finalist for the Bancarella Prize, The Atlas of the Invisible, Inside the Whale, and The Knight’s Move. His first novel for young readers, Checkmate Among the Stars, won the 2021 Strega Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Prize.
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.
Lucio Majelli (born in 1979) is an Italian author from Mazara del Vallo. A freediver, dolphin trainer, and television writer, he holds a degree in Performing Arts (DAMS) and a diploma in voice acting, and has also studied acting, playwriting, graphic design, and screenwriting. Alongside his creative work, he has worked as a social media manager for startups and internationally renowned brands.
Paola Luciani was born in Pescara in 1980. A support teacher in primary schools, she invents, imagines and writes her stories together with her husband Igor De Amicis. Together they have written Giù nella miniera (Down the Mine), selected for the Bancarellino Prize 2017 reading project and winner of the Special Children’s Prize at the Parco Majella Prize 2017. Also for Einaudi Ragazzi, they have written Fugees Football Club, Igor Trocchia. A calcio al razzismo (Igor Trocchia. A Kick to Racism), Roberto Mancini nella terra dei fuochi (Roberto Mancini in the Ground of the Fires), L’ultima verità (The Ultimate Truth) and various titles of the Classicini, Grandissimi and Che storia! series. For Il Battello a Vapore, they have published Il mistero delle lettere senza nome (The Mystery of the Nameless Letters). Paola has also published several essays and monographs on the world of education. The pair’s books have been translated in several countries (Greece, Spain, Poland, South America, Japan, Germany, etc.)
Igor De Amicis was born in Rome in 1976. Chief Commissioner of the Penitentiary Police, he shares his passion for writing with his wife Paola Luciani. Together they have written Giù nella miniera (Down the Mine), selected for the Bancarellino Prize 2017 reading project and winner of the Special Children’s Prize at the Parco Majella Prize 2017. Also for Einaudi Ragazzi, they have written Fugees Football Club, Igor Trocchia. A calcio al razzismo (Igor Trocchia. A Kick to Racism), Roberto Mancini nella terra dei fuochi (Roberto Mancini in the Ground of the Fires), L’ultima verità (The Ultimate Truth) and various titles of the Classicini, Grandissimi and Che storia! series. For Il Battello a Vapore, they have published Il mistero delle lettere senza nome (The Mystery of the Nameless Letters). Igor has also published several noir novels for adults, including La settima lapide Dea Planeta, O’ Regno Salani and Gioventù criminale (Criminal Youth), Piemme. The pair’s books have been translated in several countries (Greece, Spain, Poland, South America, Japan, Germany, etc.)
Andrea Pau has been cluttering up Sardinia since 1981. He writes comics, children's novels, animated series and books signed by other people. Among other things, he's written stories for Einaudi Ragazzi (Rugby Rebels series, 2011, illustrated by J.C. Vinci), DeAgostini (Dinoamici, 2013), Piemme (Beasts vs. Humans, 2024), Gallucci Editore (Enrico Fermi: The Atomic Genius, 2024), Sergio Bonelli Editore and Disney Italia. But he prefers reading.
Chiara Bonazzi has worked in the tourism industry since 2005 and, for the past thirteen years, has been the on-the-brink-of-a-nervous-breakdown receptionist at a campsite on Lake Maggiore, where she also manages media, advertising, and branding. Born in Cittiglio (province of Varese) in November 1986, she has always lived in Piedmont, between the lake, the Alto Vergante, and the Ossola valleys. She holds a diploma in languages and a degree in Humanities for Communication. She mainly writes short stories in rhyme, some of which have been included in small anthologies; with these, she entertains her three-year-old daughter and mildly overwhelms her partner. She still hasn’t decided what she wants to be when she grows up.
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.
