Guido Quarzo is one of Italy’s best-known and most acclaimed authors for children and young adults.

After graduating in Education from the University of Turin, he worked as a primary school teacher for many years while publishing novels, short stories and poetry for young readers from 1989 onwards. He has also worked extensively in children’s theatre, writing plays, leading workshops and staging productions.

He won the Andersen Award in 1995. In 1996, together with Anna Vivarelli, he received the Premio Cento for Amico di un altro pianeta. He won a second Andersen Award in 2013 for his novel La meravigliosa macchina di Pietro Corvo. In 2017 he was shortlisted for the Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi, and was shortlisted again in 2020 with La danza delle rane, co-written with Anna Vivarelli.