Giovanni De Feo

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-09-02

Giovanni De Feo is an Italian fabulist, novelist, and comic book writer who has lived and worked in Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, and who now resides in Bologna, where he is also active as a performing storyteller specializing in Italian folktales. He previously taught literature at International Baccalaureate schools in England and Holland. De Feo trained at the Clarion Writers' Workshop in San Diego, studying under Victor LaValle, and has described his approach to fiction as fundamentally cinematic, with story ideas arriving as scenes that play out like a film before he translates them into prose; he writes his fiction directly in English despite being multilingual, and cites Italian writers Dino Buzzati and Italo Calvino as key influences on his fantastical storytelling. His short fiction includes 'Kiss of the Mouthless Girl,' published in Nightmare Magazine in May 2017 and inspired by a nightmare he experienced while at Clarion, as well as a science fiction story that appeared in Lightspeed that same year. His novel The Secret Market of the Dead, a gothic historical fantasy drawing on Italian storytelling traditions, was named a finalist for the 2026 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. De Feo's career spans education, oral storytelling, and contemporary genre publishing, consistently centered on the interplay between folklore and the fantastic.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Secret Market of the Dead (2025) · The Secret Market of the Dead Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 1 book
• Award recognitions across all universes: 1 (1 nomination)

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