Salvatore Smedile, born in 1959 to Italian immigrant parents in Winterthur, where he lived until 1992. His first publication, the collection of short stories Gli occhi e le volpi (Lalli Editore), dates back to 1987. In 1991, his poetry collection Il passo delle tartarughe (Book Editore) was published. Following his move to Italy, he published further collections of poetry, the best known of which is La Taverna di Brest (Edizioni ETS, 2005, reprinted in 2008), which was subsequently adapted for the stage. An edition illustrated by Alberto Valente was also produced. La volontà dell’Ovest (Book Editore) and Dove i prati dormono (Eretica editore) date from 2024 and 2025 respectively. Smedile has been active in a wide range of literary fields, including as a playwright and as the organiser of literary events both at home and abroad. Until recently, he worked as a carer for people with mental illness. He lives near Turin. In 2020, he got to know the translator Christoph Ferber, who has recently compiled a selection of seventy poems (many of them unpublished) and translated them into German.