Fallaci, Oriana (1930–)
Fallaci, Oriana (1930–)
Italian novelist and journalist. Born June 29, 1930, in Florence, Italy; dau. of Edoardo Fallaci (cabinet maker and politician) and Tosca (Cantini) Fallaci; attended University of Florence; companion of Alexandros Panagoulis (political activist, died May 1, 1976).
Journalist, renowned for political interviews of such figures as Yasir Arafat, Henry Kissinger, Indira Gandhi, Willy Brandt, Mu'ammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, fought in the underground during WWII; became a reporter for Il mattino dell'Italia centrale (1946), then Epoca magazine (1951); has been a special correspondent for Europeo since 1950s; lectured at various universities including University of Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, and Yale; novels include Il sesso inutile (1961, published in English as The Useless Sex, 1964), Penelope alla guerra (1962, Penelope at War, 1966), Gli antipatici (1963, Limelighters, 1967), Lettera a un bambino mai nato (1975, Letter to a Child Never Born, 1976), Un uomo (1979, A Man, 1980), and Insciallah (1990, Inshallah, 1992); nonfiction includes I sette peccati di Holly wood (The Seven Sins of Hollywood, 1958), Se il sole muore (1965, If the Sun Dies, 1966), and Intervista con la storia (1974, Interview with History, 1976). Twice received the St. Vincent Prize for journalism; won Prix Antibes (1993) for Insciallah.
See also Santo L. Arico, Oriana Fallaci: The Woman and the Myth (Southern Illinois U. Press, 1998).