author's biography

Vittorio Vandelli was born in Modena, Italy, in 1956. He teaches English Language and Literature in a Liceo Linguistico (Grammar School of Languages). In the early 80s he graduated in Anglo-American literature at the University of Bologna with a thesis on Raymond Chandler. In 1989 he was among the finalists of the national literary prize ‘City of Modena’ with his noir novel Scrivere o Uccidere. Since the 90s Vandelli has carried out various cultural activities: he translated Strabewrry Fields (Giunti, 95), and The Complete Beatles Chronicles (Giunti, 96); he held courses on American literature and cinema for schools and institutions; for the same organizations he also gave lectures/concerts on American folk music. In 2000 he published two satirical novels on the world of education: Il professor Bingo e Il professor Bingo e il nuovo che avanza. In 2003 the noir novel Runaway-fuga a Venezia was published. In 2006 the collection of short-stories Questa scuola non è una azienda – i racconti del professor Bingo was printed by the publisher Pendragon. In 2008 he was the editor of the collection of short-stories Il Dodecalogo - racconti e contributi di insegnanti-narratori sul mondo della scuola, published by Gilda degli Insegnanti, which includes his short-story Il professor Bingo e le Idi di Marzo. In 2010 a collection of articles, published in magazines and internet sites, was published with the title of Le Pillole del prof. Bingo 2000-2010 - dieci anni vissuti pericolosamente all’interno della scuola italiana. In the same period he established the band Blue Raincoats which performed two shows, Song from a Room, a tribute to Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan Suite. In May 2013 his latest noir novel Dark City was published. In April 2014 he performed a live tribute to American folk protest music, titled The Sound of the Greenwich Village, to celebrate the 50^th anniversaries of M. L. King’s speech I Have a Dream and of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. In October 2014 he published Berlusconi’s new Ventennio – a Portrait of Italy and its Godfather, his first book in English, an essay which tries to explain the erosion of democracy that has been going on in Italy to foreign readers.