Born in Trieste, Italy, in 1939, the writer and essayist Claudio Magris graduated with a degree in German studies from the university in his hometown in 1962. Throughout his career, his research has contributed to disseminating knowledge of Central European culture in Italy through publications that blend narrative, essay, and travel writing, including: Conjectures on a Saber (1984), The Danube (1986), Another Sea (1991), Microcosms (1997), winner of the Strega Prize, and Blindly (2005). As an essayist, he has focused on the works of, among others, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Hermann Hesse, and Jorge Luis Borges. He is also a regular columnist for leading European newspapers such as Corriere della Sera and has translated Henrik Ibsen, Heinrich von Kleist, and Arthur Schnitzler into Italian.

Besides the Strega Prize (1997), the most prestigious award in Italian literature, and the Erasmus Prize from the Netherlands (2001), he received the Juan Carlos I Journalism Prize for his article "The Puppeteer of Madrid ," published in Il Corriere della Sera . He was named Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Mérito of the Italian Republic (2002) and awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2004.