THE LIFE OF THOSE LEFT BEHIND
La vita di chi resta
Sunday, April 12, 2026 | 6:30 PM
Italian Cultural Institute, 710 Sansome St, San Francisco
On the occasion of La Piazza – San Francisco Italian Literary Festival, the Italian Cultural Institute San Francisco, in collaboration with the cultural association Librai in corso, presents:
The life of those left behind
(La vita di chi resta)
Other Press, 2025
by Matteo B. Bianchi
An event hosted at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, featuring author Matteo B. Bianchi, in conversation with Sara Marinelli.
Presentation in English
Event open to the public | Registration required
“When you come back, I’ll be gone.” These are S.’s last words to Matteo, spoken over the phone one autumn day in 1998. S. is finishing moving her things out of Matteo’s apartment after the end of their love story. That day, Matteo returns home, the house where they lived together for seven years, and discovers that S. has taken his own life. More than twenty-five years have passed since those moments, during which Matteo B. Bianchi has never stopped shaping these pages of excruciating beauty in his head.
MATTEO B. BIANCHI
Author and television writer, Matteo B. Bianchi began writing at a very young age for various fanzines. He founded and directs ‘tina, an independent publication dedicated to Italian young adult fiction. He debuted as a novelist in 1999. He has written radio and television programs. He hosts the literary podcast Copertina. He is the editorial director of Accento Edizioni.
SARA MARINELLI
Sara Marinelli is a San Francisco–based writer who grew up in Naples, Italy. Her writing in English is published in Chicago Quarterly Review, ZYZZYVA online, New American Writing, and Blue Mesa Review; her work in Italian appears in Nazione Indiana, Leggendaria, Alias. A recipient of the 2024–2025 Brown-Handler residency at the San Francisco Public Library, Sara is a Teaching Artist at the San Francisco Opera and an award-winning educator at the University of San Francisco, where she teaches Comparative Literature and Creative Writing.
Ph. credit: Adolfo Frediani