Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) was a prolific Italian writer most famous for his plays, which inspired the absurdist théâtre de l’absurde movement. An influence on writers and thinkers from Samuel Beckett to Jean-Paul Sartre, Pirandello won the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for his contributions to European modernism. His metatheatrical play Six Characters in Search of an Author remains a cultural touchstone for contemporary playwrights.
 
Sean Wilsey is an author, translator, and documentary filmmaker from San Francisco. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker and The London Review of Books, and his memoir Oh the Glory of It All was published by Penguin in 2005. His film IX XI debuted at the Perth Revelation Film Festival in 2023.