Erri De Luca

Enrico "Erri" De Luca (born 20 May 1950, Naples) is an Italian novelist, translator and poet. He has been recognized by critic Giorgio De Rienzo of Corriere della Sera as "the writer of the decade". He is also known for his opposition to the Lyon-Turin high speed train line, and is being sued for having called for its sabotage. On 19 October 2015, De Luca was cleared of inciting criminal damage. He reacted to the not-guilty verdict declaring that "An injustice has been avoided." Biography Erri De Luca's original first name was Enrico ("Henry"). is an Italian version of his uncle's name, "Harry". Upon completing high school in 1968 Erri De Luca joined the radical left-wing movement . After the organization's disbanding he left political involvement. He worked as a blue-collar worker at the Fiat factory in Turin and at the Catania airport. He was also a truck driver and a mason, working at job sites in Italy, France, and Africa. He rode relief convoys in Yugoslavia during the war between 1993 and 1999. Erri De Luca is self-taught in several languages including Ancient Hebrew, Swahili, Russian and Yiddish. He has translated books of the Old Testament from Old Hebrew and written commentaries on the Sacred Texts, as a "non-believer". He has published more than 70 books, numerous collections of short stories and poems, translated into more than 30 languages.