Incidental Inventions

"This is my last column, after a year that has scared and inspired me...I have written as an author of novels, taking on matters that are important to me and that-if I have the will and the time-I'd like to develop within real narrative mechanisms."

With these words, Elena Ferrante bid farewell to her yearlong collaboration with the Guardian newspaper. For a full year, she wrote weekly articles, the subjects of which had been suggested by Guardian editors, making the writing process a sort of prolonged interlocution. The subjects ranged from first love to climate change, from enmity among women to the experience of seeing her novels adapted for film and TV.

Translated by Ann Goldstein, the acclaimed translator of Ferrante's novels, and accompanied by Andrea Ucini's intelligent, witty, and beautiful illustrations, this volume is a must for all curious readers.