Alessandro Baricco is the author of several works of fiction including, Ocean Sea, Silk, and City. He has won the Prix Médicis Étranger in France and the Selezione Campiello, Viareggio, and Palazzo del Bosco literary prizes in Italy. His international bestseller Silk has been translated into twenty-seven languages and is the basis of an opera by André Previn and a major motion picture to be produced by Miramax.