Stories Under the Beach Umbrella

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.

A screenwriter, director, writer and film critic, Manlio Castagna has also been involved in the artistic direction of the Giffoni Film Festival for more than 20 years. He made his debut in children’s fiction in 2018 with the bestselling Petrademone trilogy (Mondadori), which has been translated into several languages. Since then, he has explored many different genres: from historical fantasy with La notte delle malombre (The Night of the Malombre) and Draconis Chronicon, to horror with Goodwill and Le Belve (The Beasts), passing through the “story” of cinema with the manual 116 film da vedere prima dei 16 anni (116 Films To See Before You’re 16) and the novel Dedalo & Dharma, up to social noir with Barriera (all for the Mondadori group). La reincarnazione delle sorelle Klun (The Reincarnation of the Klun Sisters) and Prova a non dormire (Try Not to Sleep) are his adult fiction books. In 2022, he made his film debut as a director and screenwriter with “Il viaggio degli eroi”, produced by Rai Cinema and rewarded with record audience numbers on Rai1.

Born in Genoa, where she lives and writes books, she is a teacher and communication consultant, and she runs narrative writing workshops, including the Lazy Writers Support Group (GSSP), created in 2014 and entirely online. After publishing several books, she takes on writing one of the Seven Horror Stories in the book edited by Manlio Castagna and published by Piemme.

Barbara Gozzi is a senior editor, author, creative, ghostwriter and much more. She coordinates publishing projects and various types of content, curates training courses and has a hand in events, initiatives and, before the camerawork, in outlines and scripts.

Gisella Laterza lives in Bergamo, or more precisely, in a downtown café where she spends her time writing. When not writing, she teaches Italian and Latin at a high school and leads creative writing courses for students aged 6 to 99. She has published novels, short stories for school anthologies, biographies, and a children's retelling of the Divine Comedy (Einaudi Ragazzi). Among her most successful series is "Tre amiche per un diario" (Il Battello a Vapore). Under the pseudonym Ella Archer, she wrote "Abissi e incanto," a fantasy romance currently being translated into French, Dutch, and Spanish. This work was a finalist for the ILfest award (Munich, 2025) and the Romance Book Party Awards (Naples, 2025).

Marco Magnone is one of Italy's most acclaimed and sought-after children's authors by schools, festivals, and reading groups. Thanks to these engagements, he meets thousands of young readers every year. His stories, which have earned him two nominations for the Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi Prize, often blend various genres but share a common goal: to explore the profound meaning of growing up. He teaches narrative at the Holden School in Turin and at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Fiore Manni lives in Rome, has studied fashion design, and hosted the successful kids' TV show Camilla Store for several years. Her debut novel, Jack Bennet e la chiave di tutte le cose (Rizzoli, 2018), won the Premio Asti d'Appello Junior and was a finalist for the Castello di Sanguinetto Award, the oldest Italian prize for children's literature. With Book on a Tree, she has created numerous projects, including Come le cicale (Rizzoli, 2021), I misteri di Mercurio, Vol. 6 - Leonardo, I fiumi del tempo (Emonsraga, 2022), Amore, sesso e altre cose così (Rizzoli, 2022), Il re delle volpi (Rizzoli, 2023), and Il tempo delle volpi (Rizzoli, 2024).

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.

Angelo Mozzillo was born in Naples and lives in Milan. He writes short stories, screenplays, reportage, and rhyming tales. He is the author of the humorous mystery series Detective Linus, the novel The Little Gatsby, and the hilarious travel diary The Woods Are Nice but I Wouldn’t Live There (all published by Il Battello a Vapore).
His recent picture books include I Wrote a Book for You (But This Isn’t It) (Camelozampa), An Important Secret(Minibombo), and Monsieur Claquette’s Sunday (Rizzoli). His book I Am a Leaf (Bacchilega Junior) won both the Andersen Prize and the Super Andersen Prize in 2021.

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.

Lucia Perrucci grew up in Puglia, on an isolated country road, surrounded by olive trees, cats, and film rolls. She was convinced she owned a velociraptor, so much so that her father gave her her first camera to prove it. Always in love with stories, she studied Literature in Bologna and Cinema at the Giffoni Film Festival. She's a creative writing instructor and contributes to magazines and anthologies. Today, she writes and teaches at a middle school, where she absolutely adores her students and always dedicates her stories to them. In 2022, she debuted with Mondadori with "La prodigiosa macchina cattura anime di Cassandra Apollinaire," which will also be published soon in France. "Nelle case dei morti non ci sono scale" (2024) is her second novel for young adults. This autumn, the fourth novel in "The Hidden Society" series, co-written with the Archer sisters for Castoro Off, will be released.

Born in San Donà di Piave (VE), a graduate in Veterinary Medicine, and a full-time writer. He collaborated for several years with newspapers, magazines, and websites dedicated to road trips, focusing on the history and traditions of the United States. He has had a long-standing interest in Ufology, Paranormal Phenomena, Astronomy, Archaeoastronomy, and the History of the United States and Native Americans.

In addition to his love of animals, he has always cherished books since childhood. Like many people, one day he decided to write his own story. Since then, he has never stopped, and in 2004, he published his first book, followed by many others: adventurous, entertaining stories filled with various "animality" that are beloved and widely read by children and young readers.

Lucia Stipari was born in Milan and has been working in the publishing field for many years. She’s a partner at Studio Pym, a creative agency that deals with books, graphics and communication, but since she lost herself among the branches of Book on a Tree, she has understood that the thing she likes most is writing.

Lucia Vaccarino studied communication with a specialisation in TV, cinema and multimedia. She has dealt with branded content, has been a creative producer of cartoons and live action (fiction and non-fiction), and is a PM for books and comics where necessary. And she writes. She likes baking, sewing, gardening, and in general all hobbies that keep her hands occupied and let her mind run wild. If they're things she doesn't know how to do well, it's even better, because having room for improvement puts her in a good mood.