Helena Janeczek was born in Munich, but she’s been living in Italy for the past thirty years. She made her debut with a collection of poetry, Ins Freie (1989). In 1997 she published Lezioni di tenebra, her first work of fiction written in Italian. She won Premio Bagutta Opera Prima and Premio Berto, also receiving relevant acclaim from other writers such as Lalla Romano and Erri De Luca. After that comes Cibo (2002; 2019), a fictional mosaic of stories that examine the happy or difficult relationship that women (and men) have with food. With Le rondini di Montecassino (2010) she won Premio Napoli, Premio Pisa and Premio Sandro Onofri. Janeczek partecipated in many collective works: Nell’occhio di chi guarda. Scrittori e registi di fronte all'immagine (2014), Festa del Perdono. Cronache dai decenni inutili (2014), Milano (2015), La formazione della scrittrice (2015), Dylan Skyline. Dodici racconti per Bob Dylan (2015), Il racconto onesto (2015), Con gli occhi aperti. 20 autori per 20 luoghi (2016) e L’agenda ritrovata. Sette racconti per Paolo Borsellino (2017). Her short stories La minaccia fantasma and Pochi gradi di separazione are available on e-book. La ragazza con la Leica (2017) is her fourth narrative work, and it earned her Premio Bagutta 2018 and Premio Strega 2018. Her most recent work is Il tempo degli imprevisti (2024), short-listed for finalista al Premio Chiara 2024 and Premio Dessì 2024. Her books have been translated in English, French, German, Spanish and Polish. Helena Janeczek is the co-founder of the literary webzine Nazione Indiana. She contributed to Nuovi Argomenti, Alfabeta2 and Lo Straniero and to many newspapers such as la Repubblica, l’Unità, Il Sole 24 Ore and Pagina 99. She has worked in publishing as a consultant on foreign fiction. She coordinates the festival SI Scrittrici Insieme in Gallarate, where she lives with her son and two cats.