A Bompiani publication (Published 13 Feb. 2019)
Published in English by Bordighera Press (2021), translated by K.E. Bättig von Wittelsbach.
Anita is gone, putting the end to a love story that seemed like it would last forever. Misha is unprepared, sad, full of remorse and nostalgia, with a desire to tell the story—almost as a way to console himself—of how that relationship would have been if he and Anita had met when they were young instead of at age sixty. Their time together had a profound impact on Misha. The ups and downs of their relationship were full of trips, rendezvous, and passions. When someone incredibly dear to us dies, it is an opportunity to reflect on what happens after death, to think about whether we’d rather be cremated or buried. Thinking about these alternatives can lead to discussions, reflections, and unforeseen events. Examining the stories and the pasts of others brings up curious, even comical situations, and the potential afterlife is treated as if it were a continuation of life, as if it were simply a matter of choosing a place to stop, allowing oneself another stage of existence. This is a novel full of sharp wit, with the tenderness of memories running through it. The themes of the ending of an important love story and of earthly existence are woven together fluidly with a sense of serenity that is not detachment but, rather, the complete, complicated, and contradictory awareness of the fragility of life and sentiments.
Published by Assouline (31 Aug. 2017)
Alain Elkann has mastered the art of the interview. With a background in novels and journalism, and having published over twenty books translated across ten languages, he infuses his interviews with innovation, allowing them to flow freely and organically. Alain Elkann Interviews will provide an unprecedented window into the minds of some of the most well-known and -respected figures of the last twenty-five years.
Translated by Alastair McEwen
The plot of Money Must Stay in the Family, unfolds around the family matriarch’s last will and traces the story of an upper class Jewish family from Turin, the fictional Ottolenghis. The multigenerational saga begins with the flight from Mussolini’s Racial Laws of 1938 and continues with the arrival in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the dispersion from New York to Rome, Paris, Tuscany, South America, and Jerusalem.
(2015 edition now available, a Bompiani publication)
As Furio Columbo writes:- “This book is three different books. In talking with three different people in three different moments of his life, Alain Elkann asked these three different people from near and far to talk to him about God. Are we talking about the same God? Yes, because the three protagonists in Elkann’s journey of faith are part of different branches of the same tree – monotheistic religions that have only one God. Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Also because each one, despite having all of the cultural tools necessary to take on the discussion, doesn’t teach God but believes in God, and therefore talks – if in an intensely religious way – of his own life. There’s a rabbi who took part in the Resistance and in Italian public life, a cardinal that is also a philosopher and a scholar, an Arabian prince who is a direct descendant of Mohammed with titles worthy of Arabian Nights.”
By Michelangelo Pistoletto and Alain Elkann; Translated by Shanti Evans
A dynamic and far-reaching dialogue with one of Europeân’s most influential contemporary artists about his vision of unifying art and everyday life. In 2013, at the age of eighty, Michelangelo Pistoletto was the subject of a six-month exhibition at the Louvre in Paris. Here, in an insightful, passionate, and humorous dialogue with his interviewer, Alain Elkann, he reflects on his legacy. Illustrated with more than two hundred photographs of his life and work, The Voice of Pistoletto demystifies the story of the growth of an artist, candidly discussing his inspirations; his relationships with gallerists, critics, and curators of great renown; and the comparisons and critiques of his fellow contemporary masters, from Magritte to Picasso, Koons to Cattelan, Giacometti to Bacon. The result is a conversational collage that illuminates Pistoletto’s own creative life and gives readers a privileged view of the history of contemporary art in general.
Available to purchase from www.rizzoliusa.com
Il Tuffo (1981)
Stella Oceanis (1983)
Piazza Carignano (1985)
Le Due Babe (1986)
Montagne Russe (1988)
Vita di Moravia (Life of Moravia 1990, translated into more than 15 languages)
Rotocalco (novel 1991)
Delitto a Capri (Crime in Capri, novel 1992)
Vendita all’asta (Sale at Auction, collection 1993)
Cambiare il cuore with Carlo Maria Martini (Change of Heart 1993, new enlarged edition 1997)
Essere Ebreo with Elio Toaff (To be a Jew 1994, International Fregene Prize 1995)
Emma – Intervista a una bambina di undici anni (Interview with a Girl of Twelve 1995)
I soldi devono restare in famiglia (Money Must Stay in the Family, novel 1996)
Diario verosimile (1997)
Il Messia e gli Ebrei with Elio Toaff (The Messiah and the Jews 1998)
Il Padre Francese (The French Father, novel 1999)
Le Mura di Gerusalemme (2000)
Interviste 1989-2000 (2000)
Essere Musulmano with HRH the Prince of Jordan El Hassan bin Talal (To be a Muslim 2001)
John Star (novel 2001, Cesare Pavese Prize 2002)
Una lunga estate (A Long Summer, novel 2003, International Tarquinia – Cardarelli Prize 2003)
Momo (2003)
Mitzvà (2004)
Giorno dopo Giorno (Day after Day 2005)
L’Invidia (Envy, novel 2006, Mondello Literary Prize – City of Palermo)
Essere Laico (To be Secular 2007)
L’Equivoco (novel 2008, Acquiterme Prize 2009)
Nonna Carla (2010)
Hotel Locarno (2011)
Spicchi di un’arancia (short stories 2012)
La Voce di Pistoletto (The Voice of Pistoletto 2013)
Racconti (2014)
Camminare Insieme (2015)
Anita (2019)
// FEATURED
Money Must Stay in the Family
The plot of Money Must Stay in the Family, unfolds around the family matriarch’s last will and traces the story of an upper class Jewish family from Turin, the fictional Ottolenghis. The multigenerational saga begins with the flight from Mussolini’s Racial Laws of 1938 and continues with the arrival in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the dispersion from New York to Rome, Paris, Tuscany, South America, and Jerusalem.