this guy's wanted by the mob.
Volunteering ain't for sissies. Take for instance, the fact that I had to work a PEN World Voices event on Friday that included the author you see to your right, Roberto Saviano, who is wanted by the Camorra crime family in Naples.
My life was in danger.
Well, not really. But his life sort of is. The man had bodyguards. And they had guns.
Saviano wrote a book last year called Gomorrah, a kind of first-person exposé on what was a lesser well-known (but now completely infamous) crime organization operating out of his home region in the south of Italy. Since its publication and the sale of over 1 million copies in Italy alone, he's been receiving death threats from the organization, and hate mail from people who believe he's brought shame to the country by exposing the huge organized crime sector that keeps the economy afloat there.
I haven't read the book, and I'm not sure I will, because I do poorly with violence in books and movies, but his story is super interesting, and he arrived with security detail, which was very romantic for you know, a literary festival.
Also, he was such a male person, sitting akimbo, answering questions in a kind of leisurely way that only the Italians have perfected. One of thefew male staffers at the event even said, "Man, I am so jealous of his dudeness."
nice one.
Also, he was such a male person, sitting akimbo, answering questions in a kind of leisurely way that only the Italians have perfected. One of the
nice one.
