Marco Vichi was born in Florence in 1957. From his biography we discover that he read his first adult book aged eight and thanks to the emotions caused by it, he decided to travel the same path as a narrator. An input that accompanied him during his adolescence years, until someone asked him when he would get serious about it. A journey that lasted for decades and resulted in different novels and short tales. In this interesting interview, we had the chance of having a thorough look at his most recent projects and the readings we will be able to carry out in the near future.

It is mandatory to ask you – after the publication of the latest adventure of your ‘commissario’ Bordelli – which is the link between a writer and such a prominent character.

I feel a strong bond with Bordelli. I have always thought he is a very nice person and I have learnt how to know him better novel after novel. He has many downsides, but he is honest and aware of them. His irony reminds me of my father’s, too.

In 2017 you also published: La foresta del silenzio and Il Bosco delle streghe. They are very different books, although they both push the reader towards woods and forests, an environment which seems to be very appealing to you. Could you let us know more about this fascination?

I like walking in the woods and I try to find as much time as possible to go there. Solitude and silence are a pleasant need for me. I write while walking. I also have a feeling stories come more easily in the woods, even those set in a city.

You have recently taken part in a collection of short tales, entitled: Gli Stonati in memory of Marco Pannella. How were you involved in the project?

History teaches us that “prohibition” has always been a damage for the State and an advantage for mafias. As this is a simple truth, my doubt is that certain prohibited ‘substances’ (with the exception of tobacco and alcohol, which result in a lot of money for a State and many dead people every year, 50.000 on average) are getting easily used as an exchange currency. I prefer a State which educates rather than a State which prohibits and punishes. Obviously, it is mandatory that those people who use such substances do not damage others, but this is part of the rules.

Children books are very important for you. Is there a difference in the creative dynamics when you face such a genre?

No difference at all, just a certain ‘fear’ to deal with stories for children…

Can you already let us know something about your projects for 2018?

Three books should be published. A comic book for a ‘Bordelli adventure’, drawn by Giancarlo Caligaris, the same artist who drew the cover for the latest novel, Nel più bel sogno. A collection of short tales, partly dedicated to Bangladesh, thanks to the stories that were narrated to me by Alessandro Mossini, founder of the Filo di Juta association which has operated incessantly in that part of the world in the last twenty years. They try to build schools, dealing with health services and abandoned children. Very strong tales about a Bangladesh which is completely different than the one we imagine. Towards Christmas, I should also be able to realease a novel set in Paris: Per nessun motivo.