Abstract

Using data from interviews with eighteen writers active in Emilia-Romagna (mainly in the city of Bologna), and adopting an institutional approach to literary production, the article sketches out an empirical sociology of the author in contemporary Italy. It explores what it means to be a writer and examines the process of becoming a writer from the authors' point of view. The concept of literary field, developed by Pierre Bourdieu, is addressed as a useful device for understanding both processes of identity formation and careers in a profession marked by status indeterminacy and low levels of institutionalisation.