Two Friends, Two Dolls, One Shared Fear of the Uknown

Chiara Lagani, Elena Ferrante, Mara Cerri and Ann Goldstein

Born in Ravenna, Italy, Chiara Lagani is an actor, playwright, and translator. Many of her adaptations have been staged by Fanny & Alexander, a repertory company based in Ravenna, among which an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s Ada and “Story of a Friendship,” based on the Neapolitan quartet by Elena Ferrante.

Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), now a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and Jessie Buckley. She is also the author of Incidental Inventions (Europa, 2019), illustrated by Andrea Ucini; Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey (Europa, 2016); and a children’s picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as the “Neapolitan novels” (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) were published by Europa Editions in English between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018 and is in its third season. Ferrante’s most recent novel is the instant New York Times bestseller, The Lying Life of Adults (Europa, 2020).

Mara Cerri’s illustrations have appeared in the Washington Post, Columbia University Magazine, Galison, Guideposts, and many Italian publications including il Manifesto and Internazionale. She created the animations for Giacomo Durzi’s documentary, Ferrante Fever, and illustrated Elena Ferrante’s tale, The Beach at Night. She is the author and illustrator of many books. She was born in Pesaro, Italy.

Ann Goldstein has translated into English all of Elena Ferrante’s books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Lying Life of Adults and The Story of the Lost Child, which was also shortlisted for the Booker International Prize. She has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and is the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award. She lives in New York.