Bruno Arpaia

Bruno Arpaia, born in Naples, Italy, in 1957, is an Italian writer and journalist. He earned a degree in political sciences and specialized in American history at the University of Naples. After teaching there, he joined the newspaper *Il Mattino* before moving to Milan in 1989 to work for *La Repubblica*. Arpaia published his first novel, *I forestieri* (The Foreigners), in 1990, which won the Bagutta Prize the following year. He left journalism in 1998 to focus on writing and freelance journalism.

His most successful novel, *L'Angelo della storia* (Guanda, 2001), was also a finalist for the prestigious Campiello Prize. Translated into English as *The Angel of History* in 2006, it tells the fictionalized story of philosopher Walter Benjamin and a young Spanish militant in 1940. Arpaia's narrative follows Benjamin's flight across Europe and the Spaniard's activism, highlighting their struggles to uphold their beliefs amidst impending extinction.

Arpaia currently resides in Milan, balancing translation work, journalism, and novel writing. He also serves as a publishing consultant for several Italian newspapers and publishing houses. His bibliography includes multiple novels and essays in Italian, with *The Angel of History* being his most notable English-language publication.