The Adventures of Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet

Carlo Collodi was born Carlo Lorenzini in Florence, Italy on November 24, 1826. He joined a seminary as a young man, but Collodi found politics more interesting, as the movement for Italian national unification spread. At the age of 22, he became a journalist to work for the Italian independence struggle. In 1848 he founded the satirical journal Il Lampione, which was suppressed in 1849. His next periodical, La Scaramuccia, was more fortunate, and in 1860 he revived Il Lampione again. Collodi also wrote comedies and edited newspapers and reviews. He took the pseudonym Collodi from the name of the town, where his mother was born and where he spent time as a boy. In 1861, when Italy became a united nation, Collodi gave up journalism. After 1870 he settled down as a theatrical censor and magazine editor. He turned to children's fantasy, translating Italian versions of the fairy tales of the French writer Charles Perrault's. Collodi also began to write his own children's stories, including a series about a character named Giannettino. The first chapter of Pinocchio appeared in the Giornale dei bambini in 1881, and became an immediate success. He died in Florence on October 26, 1890. Iassen Ghiuselev was born in 1964. He is an award winning Bulgarian illustrator. His work includes many classic stories including Pinnochio and Alice in Wonderland. Ghiuselev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. He attended the School of Art in Sofia and he also studied at the National Academy of Arts. He graduated in 1990. Ghuiselev currently creates cover pictures, graphics and other illustrations for some of the best-known publishers and magazines in Sofia. He also works with the magazines Vanity Fair and Vogue in Italy.