Big in

Yesterday evening, I learned — with no small sense of astonishment — that La Repubblica, the largest national paper in Italy, had featured a glowing review of Vagabonding in its Sunday culture section.

The astonishing thing is not just that this is the Italian equivalent of a warm thumbs-up from the New York Times Sunday Book Review — but that nobody told me the book had been translated into Italian! I literally had no clue that an Italian edition of Vagabonding had been issued.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m living in provincial Thailand — or maybe my American publisher just isn’t into sharing advance details about foreign rights — but this is certainly a pleasant and completely unexpected shock. I really think Europeans in general will embrace the book for it’s philosophical bent, and I’m curious to know where else it will be translated.

My thanks to Max Arcangeloni for clueing me in on this surprising development (and assuring me that the review was enthusiastic and positive). I’ll post again about this later this week, once we’ve translated the entire review into English. For a peek at the Italian cover of Vagabonding: L’arte Di Girare il Mondo, click here.