How Australian fiction finds a second life through translation
There’s a quiet power running through Australian fiction — a sense of distance and belonging, of beauty and solitude.
Its stories breathe with wide skies, ocean light, and the pulse of landscapes that shape the people who live within them.
Translating these voices into Italian means more than crossing languages: it’s about bridging two sensibilities — the introspective lyricism of the Mediterranean and the emotional candour of the Southern Hemisphere.
In recent years, I’ve had the privilege of helping some of these stories make that journey.
Case Study: Michelle Montebello
From Sydney’s shores to the hearts of Italian readers
Michelle Montebello’s novels — including The Quarantine Station (La Stazione di Quarantena) and the Seasons of Belle series — explore love, loss and memory with delicate precision.
Her stories move easily between continents and generations, blending history and emotion in ways that resonate across cultures.
When translated into Italian, her voice found new warmth: readers connected with the emotional truth of her characters and with that bittersweet nostalgia that feels so close to Italian storytelling traditions.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without language expert Diana Girardini. She took amazing care of my words and translated them beautifully into Italian.”
— Michelle Montebello, author of The Quarantine Station
New Voices on the Horizon
Tasmania remembered: where place becomes story
The new generation of Australian writers is reclaiming local history with empathy and depth.
Among them, Mary-Lou Stephens stands out with works like The Jam Maker and The Chocolate Factory — novels that illuminate the resilience of women in Tasmania’s early industrial age.
Her stories interlace fact and fiction, bringing to life a world of workers, dreamers and silent revolutionaries. They speak to Italian readers who love layered narratives, historical atmospheres, and women’s journeys toward freedom.
As a translator, my role is to safeguard the voice of the author while letting the story bloom in a new language — different soil, same roots.
Why Italian readers respond to Australian voices
There’s a natural kinship between the two worlds: both are drawn to introspection, to landscapes that mirror the soul, to love stories where emotion and restraint coexist.
The Italian market has shown growing curiosity toward Australian authors — proof that distance, when bridged with care, can become a form of intimacy.
✉️ Are you curious about how your book might sound in Italian?
I’d be delighted to explore it together.