Valeria Parrella is an Italian author, playwright and activist. In 2005, her collection of short stories Per grazia ricevuta (For grace received, English translation by Antony Shugaar, 2009) was shortlisted for the Premio Strega, Italy's most prestigious literature award, and it won the Premio Renato Fucini for the best short stories collection. In 2020, she was shortlisted for the Premio Lattes Grinzane. Since 2007, she has been writing theatre pieces, too, while in 2008, she published her first novel, Lo spazio bianco, which won the Premio Letterario Basilicata. In 2009, the book was adapted into a movie with the same title, which was presented at the 66th Venice Film Festival. Thanks to this film, Valeria won the award Premio Tonino Guerra for best character at the Bari International Film Festival 2010. She has written several other short stories and novels, she collaborates with the newspapers La Repubblica and L'Espresso and has her own column in the magazine Grazia.