Paola Peretti

Paola Peretti is Italian and was born in the province of Verona, where she still lives today. She studied literature and philosophy and graduated in publishing and journalism in 2011 with a thesis on gender discrimination in literature. Between 2015 and 2016 she attended the Palomar School of creative writing in Rovigo. During and after her studies she worked as a waitress, bartender, baby sitter and teacher, while writing articles for the local newspaper.Fifteen years ago, she discovered that she was affected by a rare genetic illness called Stargadt Disease which causes progressive vision loss, and eventually blindness. There is no cure to date.She is currently teaching Italian to immigrant children from Senegal, Nigeria, China, Romania, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Moldova and Russia.The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree is her first novel.Denise Muir has been translating from Italian toEnglish since 1998 and ventured into literary translation in 2014, when Litropublished her first short story translation. Since then she has publishedpicture and educational books with Italian publishers, championed Italianchildren’s novels and published a YA novel with Barrington Stoke’s Bucket List.Denise writes a blog about inclusive children’s books, was involved in theTranslators in Schools program, works with local libraries to promote readingin the community, performs as a storyteller in Italian and English, andcollaborates with the Italian Children Writers Association, Outside In World,small Italian independent presses and a literary agency publishing strongvoices for young readers. She has maintained her ties with the broadertranslation profession serving as coordinator of the ITI Italian Network. Denise divides her time between Edinburgh and Abruzzo.