Emiliano Reali

Life and works

Reali was born in Rome on 3 November 1976, and his career began in 2001 when he won a literary prize from the Holden School of Turin with La corda d'argento (The silver cord), after inserted into the collection Sul ciglio del dirupo. His books deal with personal and social issues: from fairy tales for children and fantasy novels, to hardness and violence in novels and short stories.

Ordinary, his first novel, was published in 2004, denouncing homophobia and telling the difficulties of a young gay man, and was turned into a play for The Special Project Theatre 2007/2008, sponsored by the City of Rome and the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers. In 2008 he published the illustrated fairy tale for children Il cristallo del cuore (The crystal of heart); together with La reggia di luce (The palace of light) written in 2009, they have become a textbook for elementary schools. 2009 also saw the publishing of his second novel Se Bambi fosse trans? (What if Bambi were a tranny?), dealing with gender identity and sexual orientation issues, which received critical interest.

In 2010 two stories were published in two anthologies: Dannato (Damned), in Controcuore and Laura Pausini, in Diva Mon Amour, part of the proceeds being donated to the fight against AIDS. In 2011 his fantasy novel Il seme della speranza (The Seed of Hope) was published, a story about today's society, which focused on the effects of greed for power and money in today's society. That same year he wrote the story and screenplay for the short film Santallegria, on the subject of transsexuality. In 2012 he published a collection of short stories Sul ciglio del dirupo (On the edge), with a preface by the prince Jonathan Doria Pamphilj, sponsored by the city of Rome for its social value. For his anti-discrimination efforts, in 2012 he was selected to be part of the honorary committee of the association Equality Italia, founded by Aurelio Mancuso, which aims to become "the first Italian lobby on civil rights".

In May 2013 a totally rewritten version of Ordinary was published, and it was the first ARBook in Italy to use augmented reality. This was followed, at the end of the year, by a comic version of the novel. In December 2014 a bilingual version, Italian and English, of Sul ciglio del dirupo was published for the American market, along with On the Edge. Reali presented the book at New York University and the Italian Cultural Institute at the Italian Embassy in Washington.

In November 2015 a new publisher - Meridiano Zero of the Odoya Group- republished Se Bambi fosse trans? in a new edition and also published simultaneously its sequel Maschio o femmina? (Male or female?)