World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Carmen Covito

カルメン・コヴィート

Karumen Koviito

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1948-11-14 （Castellammare di Stabia, Province of Naples, Italy）
Nationality
Italy
Languages
Italian, English, French
Residence History
Brescia (worked) → Japan (visits/research) → Spain (visits) → Italy (returned)

Career

Occupations
novelist, translator, teacher (literature), copywriter
Active Years
1964-
Affiliations
Shodo.it (founding member; vice-president until 2020), AsiaTeatro (editor/director of the online journal)
Memberships
Shodo.it, AsiaTeatro
Influenced By
Arthur Schopenhauer

Education

—
Faculty of Philosophy
Country: Italy
Majored in philosophy; wrote a thesis on Arthur Schopenhauer.

Awards

Rapallo-Carige Opera Prima Prize
1992
Work: La bruttina stagionata
Category: Opera Prima
Organization: Rapallo-Carige
Result: 受賞
Premio Bancarella
1993
Work: La bruttina stagionata
Organization: Premio Bancarella
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

La bruttina stagionata

1992 Novel (satire, humor)

A humorous and caustic social satire centered on a middle-aged woman. Her best-known work, translated and adapted for stage and film.

middle-aged womensocial satirehumor
Adaptations
  • [Theatre (monologue)] La bruttina stagionata (stage) / Franca Valeri（演出）
  • [Film] La bruttina stagionata (film) / Anna Di Francisca
Translations
  • Spanish
  • German
  • French
  • Dutch
  • Greek
  • Romanian

Of Why Porcupines Cross the Road

1995 Novel

A work mixing short and long pieces with humor and keen observation, capturing nuances of everyday life.

observation of daily lifehuman relationships

Welcome to This Environment

1997 Novel (web immersion/experimental)

An experimental work attentive to early web culture and the online environment.

internetidentity

The Red and the Black

2002 Novel (historical elements)

A novel incorporating historical backgrounds informed by interests in Ancient Near Eastern archaeology.

ancient historyarchaeology

The Girls of Pompeii

2012 Short novel

A short novel set in Pompeii, telling stories of women around the ancient city.

Ancient Romewomen

Bibliography

  • La bruttina stagionata (1992)
  • Of Why Porcupines Cross the Road (1995)
  • Welcome to This Environment (1997)
  • The Red and the Black (2002)
  • The Girls of Pompeii (2012)
  • The Trial of Justa (short story, 2013)
  • Sadayakko, the Duse of Japan (academic essay, 2023)
  • The Art of Quitting Smoking
  • Skeletons without a Closet and Other Short Stories (eBook)

Adaptations

  • La bruttina stagionata (stage monologue; film adaptation)

Translations by Author

  • Translated Colette's Claudine at School (Frassinelli, 1997)
  • Translated works from early Italian such as Baldassare Castiglione's Il Cortegiano
  • Translation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Translations of Works

  • Translations of La bruttina stagionata into Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Greek, Romanian

Style & Themes

Literary Style
humorsatirical observationlight, conversational prose
Recurring Motifs
female perspectiveabsurdities of everyday lifetravel and cross-cultural encounters

Legacy

Carmen Covito is noted for her humor and satire in contemporary Italian literature from the 1990s onward, gaining wide recognition with La bruttina stagionata. As a translator she has worked from early Italian classics to modern Anglo-French works, and has contributed to studies on Japanese theatre reception in Italy.

Academic Societies

  • Shodo.it
  • AsiaTeatro (editorial/organizational involvement)

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation of La bruttina stagionata

Trivia

  • At 15 she had a story published in a children's magazine (Corriere dei Piccoli).
  • Won the Rapallo-Carige Opera Prima Prize in 1992 and the Premio Bancarella in 1993 for La bruttina stagionata.
  • Founding member and vice-president (until 2020) of Shodo.it.
  • Has translated works by Castiglione, Colette, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.