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Gianni Rodari, nice to meet you . . .
For people who do not know Gianni Rodari, an introduction is necessary. For those who know him already, it will nonetheless be enjoyable to read the following short biography, which was written by the author himself in the 1960s, when he had achieved such a level of fame as to persuade him to give "first hand information" to those interested in his work (De Luca, Biografia 603-06).
Here are some passages from his biography: "Gianni Rodari was born in Omegna (Novara) in 1920; he worked as a grade school teacher and as a journalist. He lives in Rome, where he works at a newspaper. He is also a contributor to the Corriere dei piccoli. He started to write for children for the Sunday edition of a newspaper until he had enough material to have a whole collection of nursery rhymes for publication in a book. Subsequently, he dedicated himself more and more to children's literature, while studying education, teaching methods and psychology on his own. When he writes, his inspiration always comes from his imagination, but he believes that a good educational background is necessary, as imagination has to be informed by reality, and the adventure has to be an educational one, not because of planning, but almost by default.
"He wrote: Filastrocche in cielo e in terra ("Nursery Rhymes in the Sky and on Earth," 1960), Favole al telefono ("Fairy Tales Over the Phone, 1962"), La torta in cielo ("The Cake in the Sky," 1966), Gip nel televisore ("Gip in the Television," 1962), Le avventure di Cipollino ("The Adventures of the Onion, 1951/57"), Gelsomino nel paese dei bugiardi ("Gelsomino in the Country of Liars," 1958), La freccia azzurra ("The Blue Arrow," 1953). Many of his works have appeared in textbooks for elementary and middle schools. Some of his books have been translated into many foreign languages (Le avventure di Cipollino has been translated into more than twenty languages, including French, Japanese, Russian and Vietnamese; Favole al telefono has been translated into English, German, Dutch, etc.).
"He won several prizes such as the Premio Prato, Premio Castello and Premio Rubino in Italy. His Gip nel televisore won the Andersen International Price. There have been many radio...